title: Platinum-Coated Gold Nanorods: Efficient Reactive Oxygen Scavengers That Prevent Oxidative Damage toward Healthy, Untreated Cells during Plasmonic Photothermal Therapy.
abstract: As a minimally invasive therapeutic strategy, gold nanorod (AuNR)-based plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPT) has shown significant promise for the selective ablation of cancer cells. However, the heat stress experienced by cells during the PPT treatment produces significant amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which could harm healthy, untreated tissue near the point of care by inducing irreversible damage to DNA, lipids, and proteins, potentially causing cellular dysfunction or mutation. In this study, we utilized biocompatible Pt-coated AuNRs (PtAuNRs) with different platinum shell thicknesses as an alternative to AuNRs often used for the treatment. We show that the PtAuNRs maintain the efficacy of traditional AuNRs for inducing cell death while scavenging the ROS formed as a byproduct during PPT treatment, thereby protecting healthy, untreated cells from indirect death resulting from ROS formation. The synergistic effect of PtAuNRs in effectively killing cancer cells through hyperthermia with the simultaneous removal of heat stress induced ROS during PPT was validated in vitro using cell viability and fluorescence assays. Our results suggest that the high photothermal efficiency and ROS-scavenging activity of PtAuNRs makes them ideal candidates to improve the therapeutic efficacy of PPT treatment while reducing the risk of undesired side effects due to heat-stress-induced ROS formation.
authors.affiliation: Laser Dynamics Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: Mena
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9799-0634
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aioub
authors.affiliation: Laser Dynamics Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: Sajanlal R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Panikkanvalappil
authors.affiliation: Laser Dynamics Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors.forename: Mostafa A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7674-8424
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: El-Sayed
mesh_terms: D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D010316:Particle Size; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D010984:Platinum; D006046:Gold
keywords: gold nanorods; photothermal therapy; plasmonic; platinum; reactive oxygen species (ROS)