GOLD NANOPARTICLES

AND THEIR APPLICATION

IN CANCER TREATMENT

PROJECT BY:
ADITYA AGRAWAL
XII-C
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to
everyone who has been instrumental in the successful
completion of this project.
Firstly, I wish to express my deep gratitude and sincere
thanks to the principal Mrs. Rukmani Sreedharan for all
the facilities that she provided for this project work and
for constantly motivating us to better our abilities in all our
endeavors.
I extend my hearty thanks to Mrs. Renju Jaimon, who
guided me to the successful completion of this project. I
take this opportunity to express my deep sense of
gratitude for this invaluable guidance constant
encouragement, immense motivation, which has sustained
my efforts at all stages of this Project work.
Lastly,I can’t forget to offer my sincere thanks to my
parents and also to my classmates who helped me to carry
out this project successfully and for their valuable advice
and support, which I received from them time to time.
INDEX

S.NO TOPICS
1 INTRODUCTION

2 THEORY -Gold
nanoparticles
3 Various Methods of
Cancer Treatment
4 INFERENCE

5 GALLERY

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 INTRODUCTION

With over 7 million new deaths per year, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death
worldwide. The mortality of cancer is estimated to reach 13.1 million in the next two
decades. Surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are key players in treatment of
cancer. These treatments slow the progression of disease and prolong the survival of
patients. Nonetheless, new treatments are in urgent need due to the greater understanding
of the complexity of genetic and environmental factors.. In the last two decades, the
development of nanotechnology has facilitated our ability to design new nanoparticles for
the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.Gold nanoparticles are emerging as promising agents
for cancer therapy and are being investigated as drug carriers, photothermal agents,
contrast agents and radiosensitisers. The high affinity of gold nanoparticles to bind thiols,
amines and polymers provides a convenient way to introduce reactive functional groups
that can be utilized for targeting (e.g. antibodies, peptides, aptamers, and carbohydrates)
and conjugating therapeutic agents (e.g. drugs, radionuclides, photosensitizers, siRNA and
genes). Beyond this, the high absorption coefficient of X-rays and near-infrared (NIR) light
can directly endow gold nanoparticles with the radiosensitization effect and photothermal
effect for cancer therapy. By integrating gold nanoparticles into other nanoplatforms such as
liposomes, multifunctional nanomedicine is able to achieve unique properties that cannot
be achieved with gold nanoparticles alone. Gold nanoparticles hold promising potential in
the development of versatile nanomedicines that are capable of multi-modal therapeutic
applications in cancer treatment.
 THEORY
GOLD NANOPARTICLES
Macro-scale gold is the shiny yellow color that is familiar to everyone. At the nano-scale,
however, gold takes on a number of very different properties, including changes in optical
absorption that result in a spectrum of colors based on particle size. The exact relationship
between particle diameter and light absorption is complicated and nonlinear(it is predicted
by the Rayleigh theory of light scattering), but in general, the smaller the particle, the closer
the color is to orange. This property of gold has long been recognized – gold was used to
make many different colors of stained glass found in the windows of medieval churches.

Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (Au [I] or aurous compounds) and +3 (Au [III] or
auric compounds). Gold nanoparticles, however, exist in a non-oxidised state (Au [0]). Gold
nanoparticles are not new; in the 19th century, Michael Faraday published the first scientific
paper on gold nanoparticle synthesis, describing the production of colloidal gold by the
reduction of aurochloric acid by phosphorous. In the late 20th century, techniques including
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) enabled direct
imaging of gold nanoparticles, and control of properties such as size and surface coating was
refined. Common methods of GNP production include citrate reduction of Au [III] derivatives
such as aurochloric acid (HAuCl4) in water to Au (0) and the Brust–Schiffrin method, which
uses two-phase synthesis and stabilisation by thiols .

Gold nanoparticles exhibit unique physicochemical properties including surface plasmon

resonance (SPR) and the ability to bind amine and thiol groups, allowing surface
modification and use in biomedical applications. Nanoparticle functionalisation is the
subject of intense research at present, with rapid progress being made towards the
development of biocompatible, multifunctional particles for use in cancer diagnosis and
therapy . For example, a multifunctional micellar hybrid nanoparticle containing metal
nanoparticles for MRI detection, quantum dots for near infrared fluorescent imaging,
polyethylene glycol (PEG) to increase circulation times, the tumour-specific F3 peptide for
targeting and doxorubicin as a therapeutic payload has recently been developed. Efficacy
has been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo in a mouse model implanted with human breast
cancer cells.

One unique property of gold nanoparticles is their LSPR effect, which enables a variety
of imaging and treatment modalities, such as light scattering imaging, photothermal
therapy, photodynamic therapy, and so on. Gold nanoparticles absorb incident photons
and convert them to heat to destroy cancer cells. Due to their unique optical properties
as a result of LSPR, gold nanoparticles absorb light with extremely high efficiency (cross
section at ~10 9 M−1 cm−1), which ensures effective PTT at relatively low radiation
energy.
The gold particles used for cancer therapy are called “nanoshells” because they are actually
spherical nanoparticles of silica that are covered in a coating of gold. The thickness of the
gold coating is tuned to absorb the correct wavelength of light (the actual treatment uses
near-infrared lasers. The blue nano-gold is comprised of rod-shaped particles, whose
scattering properties differ from spheres, the sizes of the samples do not correlate exactly
with the size/color relationship of spherical nanoshells.

When nanoshells are injected into the bloodstream, they infiltrate tumors but not normal
tissue. One reason for this specificity is that tumors are inherently “leakier” than normal
tissue because the junctions between tumor cells are not as tight. The specificity can be
further enhanced by attaching antibodies to the nanoshells that match proteins expressed
by tumor cells but not healthy cells. Pure gold is nontoxic to the human body. Eventually,
the nanoshells will be filtered out by the kidneys and naturally removed from the
body.

VARIOUS METHODS OF CANCER TREATMENT

PHOTOTHERMAL THERAPY

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a central application of gold nanoparticles in cancer

treatment. Gold nanoparticles absorb incident photons and convert them to heat to destroy
cancer cells. Due to their unique optical properties as a result of LSPR, gold nanoparticles
absorb light with extremely high efficiency (cross section at ~10 9 M−1 cm−1), which
ensures effective PTT at relatively low radiation energy. The abnormal vascular structure of
tumor is inefficient in dissipating heat, thus the tumors are more sensitive to hyperthermia
than healthy tissues. When irradiated by light, the heat generated by gold nanoparticles
causes biomolecule denaturation and cellular membrane disruption and kills tumor cells .

The wavelength of incident light is important for PTT. The NIR light has maximal penetration
in tissues because most components of biotissues, including water, hemoglobin, skin, and
other pigments, show minimal absorption and scattering of light in this region. Typically, the
NIR light can reach ~1 cm deep in human body. Various nanoparticles that can absorb NIR
light have been synthesized and tested for PTT, including nanorods, nanoshells, nanocages,
nanostars, nanovesicles, and so on. PEGylated silica and gold nanoshells induce irreversible
thermal damage to tumor under exposure to low dose of NIR light (4 W/cm2) for 4–6 min
after systematic injection. Without nanoshells, the exposure of NIR light increases
temperature less than 10°C. In the in vivo studies, the temperature of tumor was monitored
by MRI in real time, and the maximal depths of thermal damage spanning were about 4–6
mm after 6 min of irradiation.

Selective PTT has been demonstrated by using tumor-targeting gold nanoparticles. One
strategy for selective PTT is to design immune-targeted gold nanoparticles against receptors
overexpressed by cancer cells. Gold nanorods were conjugated to anti-EGFR antibodies,
incubated with malignant oral epithelial cells (HOC 313 clone 8 and HSC 3) and normal
epithelial cells (HaCat), followed by exposure to NIR laser at 800 nm. It is found that HOC 313
clone 8 and HSC 3 destroyed at about half the laser energy required to destroy HaCat cells. Another
strategy is using engineered gold nanoparticles responsible to the microenvironment of tumors

Photodynamic therapy
The principle of photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been known for over 100 years. PDT
involves three nontoxic components, photosensitizer, light, and oxygen, that are needed to
generate singlet oxygen (1O2) or/and reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill cells. Generally,
the photosensitizer is administrated to localize in tumor first, activated by light of a specific
wavelength to transfer energy from light to molecular oxygen, and damage cells by the
generated 1O2 and ROS. Since 1O2 and ROS quench after a very short time, PDT is a
localized treatment similar to PTT. However, due to the poor solubility of most
photosensitizers, it is challenging to deliver them to tumor with high specificity for
treatment.

To address this challenge, gold nanoparticles are engineered as carriers of photosensitizer.

Camerin et al. Bound Zn(II)-phthalocyanine disulfide (C11Pc), a photosensitizer bearing hexyl
chains and a sulfur terminated C11 chain, with gold nanoparticles and investigated the
photodynamic therapeutic effect in a melanoma mice model. Compared with free C11Pc,
the ratio between the amount of photosensitizer recovered from melanoma and skin
increased from 2.3 to 5.5 for gold nanoparticles bound C11Pc at 24 h after injection. The
nanoparticle-bound C11Pc also showed a better antitumor effect than that of free C11Pc at
the same concentration.

Ion-based radiation therapy

Ion-based radiation therapy is another type of RT. Instead of utilizing high-energy gamma
rays, ion-based radiation therapy uses ion beams as the radiation source, such as the ions of
hydrogen (protons), helium, carbon, or oxygen. The ion radiation is attractive because it has
a strong LET near the end of the track, which is called the Bragg peak. The location of Bragg
peak can be extended by increasing the energy of the ion so that the volume of irradiation
can be better defined in ion irradiation than in photon irradiation.

One of the proposed mechanisms for radiosensitization of gold nanoparticles is that the ion
beams excite surface plasmons and thus increase the yield of secondary electrons.They
demonstrated the radiosensitization effect of gold nanoparticles for proton therapy in vitro.
They compared the difference between effect of gold nanoparticles with different size (5
and 10 nm) and proton beams with different LET (10 and 25 keV μm−1). A pronounced
radiosensitization effect of gold nanoparticles was observed after irradiation of proton beam
with high LET, but not with low LET. The effect was more remarkable for large gold
nanoparticles than for small gold nanoparticles. Recently a biological model of gold
nanoparticles–enhanced proton therapy was established. It suggested that the
radiosensitization effect would only exist when the gold nanoparticles were internalized into
cells, especially into cell nucleus. Intravenously injected 14 nm gold nanoparticles into CT26
tumor bearing mice and utilized proton beam to irradiate CT26 tumor at 24 h post injection.
It was observed 100% complete tumor regression (CTR) in mice treated with a proton dose
of 31 Gy and tumoral gold concentration of 41 Au/g tissues. In contrast, the CTR was 37–
62% for mice treated by proton alone
 INFERENCE

The extensive research on gold nanoparticles over the past decade has indicated
their potential for a rich variety of applications in cancer imaging and treatment.
The optimal surface chemistry, endowed by small molecules, carbohydrates and
polymer conjugation, can greatly help the immunogenic presentation of antigens
for developing vaccines and highly efficient delivery of therapeutic
drugs/siRNA/CRISPR-Cas9 for cancer treatments. Besides the meaningful work
done on these areas, there is still a lot of room for researchers to design and
synthesize versatile ligands/polymers to regulate the surface chemistry of
AuNPs with high efficiency and as well enhanced targeting, biocompatibility
and minimized side effects. Many advances were enabled by the understanding
of the chemical synthesis and bio behaviour of gold nanoparticles. These
understandings will certainly lead to more practical clinical applications. The
use of gold nanoparticles for drug delivery and photo thermal therapy was
proved for phase I and phase II clinical trials . Although the gold is relatively
inert for bio tissues, these nanoparticles tend to remain in the body, especially in
liver and spleen for a long time. Although gold nanoparticles offer an attractive
platform for new novel modalities for cancer imaging and treatment, it is very
important to carefully and precisely study their toxicity in potential applications
for human.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_nanoparticles_in_chemotherapy

https://www.mrsec.psu.edu/content/nano-gold-cancer-therapy

https://www.intechopen.com/books/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/

https://pubs.rsc.org/