Gold Cluster Encapsulated Liposomes: Theranostic Agent With Stimulus Triggered Release Capability Publisher Pubmed



Amini SM^{1, 2} ; Rezayat SM^{2, 3} ; Dinarvand R⁴ ; Kharrazi S² ; Jaafari MR^{5, 6}
Source: Medical Oncology Published:2023

Abstract

Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide. Cancer-resistant to chemo or radiotherapy treatment is a challenge that could be overcome by a nanotechnology approach. Providing a theranostic nano-platform for different cancer treatment strategies could be revolutionary. Here we introduce a multifunctional theranostic nanostructure which has the capacity for improving cancer diagnosis and treatment through better chemo and radiotherapy and current x-ray imaging systems through co-encapsulation of a small gold cluster and anticancer drug doxorubicin. 2 nm gold clusters represent good heating under radio frequency electric field (RF-EF) exposure and have been used for in vitro hyperthermia treatment of cancerous cells. Liposomal doxorubicin (169 ± 19.8 nm) with gold clusters encapsulation efficiency of 13.2 ± 3.0% and doxorubicin encapsulation efficiency of 64.7 ± 0.7% were prepared and studied as a theranostic agent with a high potential in different cancer treatment modalities. Exposure to a radiofrequency electric field on prepared formulation caused 20.2 ± 2.1% drug release and twice decreasing of IC50 on colorectal carcinoma cells. X-ray attenuation efficiency of the liposomal gold cluster was better than commercial iohexol and free gold clusters in different concentrations. Finally, treatment of gold clusters on cancerous cells results in a significant decrease in the viability of irradiated cells to cobalt-60 beam. Based on these experiments, we concluded that the conventional liposomal formulation of doxorubicin that has been co-encapsulated with small gold clusters could be a suitable theranostic nanostructure for cancer treatment and merits further investigation. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.