title: Passing through the renal clearance barrier: toward ultrasmall sizes with stable ligands for potential clinical applications.
abstract: The use of nanoparticles holds promise for medical applications, such as X-ray imaging, photothermal therapy and radiotherapy. However, the in vivo toxicity of inorganic nanoparticles raises some concern regarding undesirable side effects which prevent their further medical application. Ultrasmall sub-5.5 nm particles can pass through the barrier for renal clearance, minimizing their toxicity. In this letter we address some recent interesting work regarding in vivo toxicity and renal clearance, and discuss the possible strategy of utilizing ultrasmall nanomaterials. We propose that small hydrodynamic sized nanoclusters can achieve both nontoxic and therapeutic clinical features.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Sha-Sha
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Pei-Xun
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Saijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D004355:Drug Stability; D060730:Glomerular Filtration Barrier / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry*; D058726:Nanoconjugates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D065608:Renal Reabsorption; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D058726:Nanoconjugates
keywords: gold nanoparticles; in vivo clearance; small size