Gold nanoparticles for cancer therapy and diagnosis
Gold nanoparticles constitute an excellent platform for the nano-enabled targeted delivery of anticancer drugs and diagnostic biomarkers. We are currently developing gold nanoparticles of various sizes and shapes in an effort to exploit their unique optical properties in the development of novel laser guided cancer therapies. In the present project, we develop radically new therapeutic protocols that combine lasers and nanoparticles (these are small sized materials with diameters thousands of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair) to direct drugs at the diseased sites of the body in a specific manner without damaging healthy tissue. The nanoparticles freely circulate in the bloodstream and carry toxic drugs but will only release their lethal cargo when activated by laser light. By pointing the laser beam directly to the diseased tissue, it is possible to treat cancerous tumors by activating the nanoparticles to release the drugs only within tumor areas and not to surrounding healthy tissue. We envision that in the future oncologists will be able to treat cancers in a dynamic manner by continually adjusting drug dosage during treatment by gaining constant feedback information on the tumours' response to therapy by simultaneous imaging of the diseased area during treatment.