title: Gold-nanorods-siRNA nanoplex for improved photothermal therapy by gene silencing.
abstract: Nanomaterials-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) often suffers from the fundamental cellular defense mechanism of heat shock response which leads to therapeutic resistance of cancer cells and reduces the therapeutic efficacy. Herein, a gold nanorods (GNRs)-siRNA platform with gene silencing capability is produced to improve the PTT efficiency. After surface modification, the GNRs show the ability to deliver siRNA oligos targeting BAG3 which is an efficient gene to block the heat-shock response. The synthesized GNRs-siRNA nanoplex exhibits excellent ability in the delivery of siRNA into cancer cells with high silencing efficiency which is even better than that of commercial Lipofectamine 2000. The in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate the ability of the GNRs-siRNA nanoplex to sensitize the cancer cells to PTT under moderate laser irradiation by down-regulating the increased BAG3 expression and enhancing apoptosis. The GNRs-siRNA mediated PTT has large potential in clinical cancer therapy due to the elimination of therapeutic resistance and enhanced photothermal therapeutic efficacy by means of gene silencing. It also suggests an efficient platform for gene delivery and controllable gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology, Hubei-MOST & Key, Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine of Ministry of Education, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, PR China.
authors.forename: Bei-Ke
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China. Electronic address: xf.yu@siat.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xue-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Jia-Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Bin
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China; Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Peng-Hui
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China.
authors.forename: Huaiyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital to Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Paul K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology, Hubei-MOST & Key, Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine of Ministry of Education, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, PR China. Electronic address: lcz56@163.com.
authors.forename: Chengzhang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced; D043942:Nanotubes; D010789:Phototherapy; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D006046:Gold
keywords: Biomedical applications; Gold nanorods; Oral cancer; Photothermal therapy; RNA interference