BIBLIOS

Document type
Journal articles

Document subtype
Full paper

Title
A Step Forward for the Treatment of Localized Prostate Cancer Using Gold Nanoparticles Combined with Laser Irradiation

Participants in the publication
Sara Pinho (Author)
Tânia Ferreira-Gonçalves (Author)
Joana Lopes (Author)
Mariana Neves Amaral (Author)
Ana S. Viana (Author)
Dep. Química e Bioquímica
CQE
João M. P. Coelho (Author)
Dep. Física
IBEB
Maria Manuela Gaspar (Author)
Catarina Pinto Reis (Author)

Summary
Prostate cancer (PCA) is the second most common cancer diagnosis in men and the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. The conventional treatments available are beneficial to only a few patients and, in those, some present adverse side effects that eventually affect the quality of life of most patients. Thus, there is an urgent need for effective, less invasive and targeted specific treatments for PCA. Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a minimally invasive therapy that provides a localized effect for tumour cell ablation by activating photothermal agents (PTA) that mediate the conversion of the light beam’s energy into heat at the site. As tumours are unable to easily dissipate heat, they become more susceptible to temperature increases. In the PTT field, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been attracting interest as PTA. The aim of this study was to formulate AuNPs capable of remaining retained in the tumour and subsequently generating heat at the tumour site. AuNPs were synthesized and characterized in terms of size, polydispersity index (PdI), zeta potential (ZP), morphology and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The safety of AuNPs and their efficacy were assessed using in vitro models. A preliminary in vivo safety assessment of AuNPs with a mean size lower than 200 nm was confirmed. The morphology was spherical-like and the SPR band showed good absorbance at the laser wavelength. Without laser, AuNPs proved to be safe both in vitro (>70% viability) and in vivo. In addition, with laser irradiation, they proved to be relatively effective in PCA cells. Overall, the formulation appears to be promising for use in PTT.


Where published
International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Publication Identifiers
ISSN - 1422-0067

Publisher
MDPI AG



Document Identifiers
DOI - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25084488
URL - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms25084488

Rankings
SCIMAGO Q1 (2023) - 1.179 - Medicine (miscellaneous)
Web Of Science Q1 (2023) - 4.9 - BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Keywords
prostate cancer photothermal therapy gold nanoparticles synthesis characterization