Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-1-Mediated Au@SiO2@Au Core–Shell Nanoparticles: Targeting Prostate Cancer to Enhance Photothermal Therapy and Fluorescence Imaging

Abstract

The advantages of deep tissue penetration and the high spatial accuracy of photothermal therapy have been widely studied. Gold, as a photothermal material, has received particular attention. Different sizes and shapes of gold have been studied and characterized for their varying photothermal properties. The core–shell structure of gold nanoparticles and silica enhances the photothermal conversion through the coupling effect between gold clusters on the material’s surface. With excellent photothermal conversion performance, the core–shell nanoparticles can quickly reach 40 °C in 200 s under the irradiation of 808 nm, 1.5 W·cm−2. The highest conversion temperature of these nanoparticles is 56 °C, and the photothermal conversion rate is 45%. In vitro cell experiments displayed that NPs with targeted function can efficiently aggregate in prostate cancer cells and effectively kill cells. In vitro experiments showed that the tumor cells of mice after photothermal treatment completely disappeared after 15 days, which fully demonstrated the potential of the nanoparticles for targeted photothermal therapy.