title: Theranostic agents for intracellular gene delivery with spatiotemporal imaging.
abstract: Gene therapy is the modification of gene expression to treat a disease. However, efficient intracellular delivery and monitoring of gene therapeutic agents is an ongoing challenge. Use of theranostic agents with suitable targeted, controlled delivery and imaging modalities has the potential to greatly advance gene therapy. Inorganic nanoparticles including magnetic nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, and quantum dots have been shown to be effective theranostic agents for the delivery and spatiotemporal tracking of oligonucleotidesin vitroand even a few casesin vivo. Major concerns remain to be addressed including cytotoxicity, particularly of quantum dots; effective dosage of nanoparticles for optimal theranostic effect; development of real-timein vivoimaging; and further improvement of gene therapy efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, C0400, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (USA).
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Knipe
authors.forename: Jonathan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Peppas
keywords: gene delivery; gold nanoparticles; imaging; magnetic nanoparticles; quantum dots