Antibody-conjugated gold-gold sulfide nanoparticles as multifunctional agents for imaging and therapy of breast cancer

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop near-infrared (NIR) resonant gold-gold sulfide nanoparticles (GGS-NPs) as dual contrast and therapeutic agents for cancer management via multiphoton microscopy followed by higher intensity photoablation. We demonstrate that GGS-NPs exposed to a pulsed, NIR laser exhibit two-photon induced photoluminescence that can be utilized to visualize cancerous cells in vitro. When conjugated with anti-HER2 antibodies, these nanoparticles specifically bind SK-BR-3 breast carcinoma cells that over-express the HER2 receptor, enabling the cells to be imaged via multiphoton microscopy with an incident laser power of 1 mW. Higher excitation power (50 mW) could be employed to induce thermal damage to the cancerous cells, producing extensive membrane blebbing within seconds leading to cell death. GGS-NPs are ideal multifunctional agents for cancer management because they offer the ability to pinpoint precise treatment sites and perform subsequent thermal ablation in a single setting.

Keywords:

• cancer
• nanomedicine
• multiphoton microscopy
• photoluminescence
• photothermal therapy
• theranostics

Acknowledgments/disclosures

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (EEC-0118007 and EEC-0647452). ES Day is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, LR Bickford is supported by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, and JH Slater is supported by a KCGCC-NIH Nanobiology Training Fellowship. The authors thank Ying Hu of the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University for assistance with TEM and Andrew Coughlin of the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University for assistance with TEM and dynamic light scattering experiments. JL West has a financial interest in Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc.