title: Cancer cell sensing and therapy using affinity tag-conjugated gold nanorods.
abstract: Through the developments in controlling the shape of gold nanoparticles, synthesis of gold nanorods (AuNRs) can be considered as a milestone discovery in the area of nanomaterial-based cancer treatments. Besides having tuneable absorption maxima at near infrared (NIR) range, AuNRs have superior absorption cross section at NIR frequencies compared with other gold nanoparticles. When this unique optical property is combined with the specificity against cancer cells used by affinity tag conjugations, AuNRs become one of the most important nanoparticles used in both cancer cell sensing and in therapy. In this review, the impact of size and shape control of nanoparticles, especially AuNRs, on cancer cell treatments and a range of aptamer-conjugated AuNR applications in this regard are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA.
authors.forename: Emir
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yasun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA ; Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huaizhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA.
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Erdal
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA.
authors.forename: Sena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cansiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA.
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ocsoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA.
authors.forename: Yu-Fen
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center and Center for Research at the Interface of Bio/nano, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute , University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611-7200 , USA.
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
keywords: aptamer; gold nanorods; near infrared; photoacoustic imaging; photothermal therapy; surface plasmon resonance