Clustered, SERS-Active, Ultrasmall AuNPs for Photothermal Therapy
Ryan D Mellor,1 Guojun Xiong,1 Alexandra G Vaideanu,1 Benjamin Gardner,2 Nick Stone,2 Andreas G Schätzlein,1 Ijeoma F Uchegbu1 1School of Pharmacy, University College London (UCL), London, WC1N 1AX, UK; 2School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QL, UKCorrespondence: Ijeoma...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Dove Medical Press
2025-06-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Nanomedicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.dovepress.com/clustered-sers-active-ultrasmall-aunps-for-photothermal-therapy-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IJN |
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| Summary: | Ryan D Mellor,1 Guojun Xiong,1 Alexandra G Vaideanu,1 Benjamin Gardner,2 Nick Stone,2 Andreas G Schätzlein,1 Ijeoma F Uchegbu1 1School of Pharmacy, University College London (UCL), London, WC1N 1AX, UK; 2School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QL, UKCorrespondence: Ijeoma F Uchegbu, School of Pharmacy, University College London (UCL), 29– 39 Brunswick Square, London, Tel + 44 207 753 5997, Email ijeoma.uchegbu@ucl.ac.ukIntroduction: Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged as promising agents for photothermal cancer therapy due to their unique optical properties and potential for tumour targeting.Methods: In this study, we developed clustered, excretable AuNCs using a glycol chitosan derivative (GCPQ) and investigated their physicochemical properties, photothermal effect, and therapeutic efficacy.Results: The AuNCs exhibited tunable surface plasmon resonance peaks dependent on the polymer:AuNP ratio, with optimized clusters showing surface enhanced Raman scattering and photothermal heating. In vivo studies in a mouse tumour model demonstrated significant tumour growth inhibition (334% growth vs 607% growth for untreated animals after 6 days) when combining intratumoural AuNC injection with near-infrared laser irradiation.Conclusion: The results provide proof-of-concept for the potential of these AuNCs in photothermal cancer therapy. Future work should focus on improving tumour targeting, optimizing treatment parameters, and assessing long-term safety to advance this platform toward clinical translation.Keywords: gold nanoclusters, (AuNCs), cancer treatment, glycol chitosan derivative, (GCPQ), tumour growth inhibition |
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| ISSN: | 1178-2013 |