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Review
. 2022 Mar 17;14(3):664.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14030664.

Gold Nanorods for Drug and Gene Delivery: An Overview of Recent Advancements

Atieh Jahangiri-Manesh  1 , Marziyeh Mousazadeh  1 , Shirinsadat Taji  1 , Abbas Bahmani  2 , Atefeh Zarepour  3 , Ali Zarrabi  3 , Esmaeel Sharifi  4 , Mostafa Azimzadeh  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Gold Nanorods for Drug and Gene Delivery: An Overview of Recent Advancements

Atieh Jahangiri-Manesh et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Over the past few decades, gold nanomaterials have shown great promise in the field of nanotechnology, especially in medical and biological applications. They have become the most used nanomaterials in those fields due to their several advantageous. However, rod-shaped gold nanoparticles, or gold nanorods (GNRs), have some more unique physical, optical, and chemical properties, making them proper candidates for biomedical applications including drug/gene delivery, photothermal/photodynamic therapy, and theranostics. Most of their therapeutic applications are based on their ability for tunable heat generation upon exposure to near-infrared (NIR) radiation, which is helpful in both NIR-responsive cargo delivery and photothermal/photodynamic therapies. In this review, a comprehensive insight into the properties, synthesis methods and toxicity of gold nanorods are overviewed first. For the main body of the review, the therapeutic applications of GNRs are provided in four main sections: (i) drug delivery, (ii) gene delivery, (iii) photothermal/photodynamic therapy, and (iv) theranostics applications. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives of their therapeutic application are discussed.

Keywords: drug delivery; gene therapy; gold nanorods; photodynamic therapy; photothermal therapy; theranostics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Schematic drawing of the pH and NIR-responsive nDDS. Cancerous cells with overexpressed biotin receptors will uptake the Biotin-PEG-GNR-DNA/DOX system and enter its endosomes. Following the maturation of the endosomes, the pH will decrease, and thus DOX will be released. The system can alternatively be stimulated by NIR radiation for a local release. Reprinted from [95] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (B) The schematic representation of tri-sensitive nDDS for simultaneous photothermal and photodynamic therapy and fluorescence tracing for HER2/CD44 positive breast cancer cells. Reprinted from [97] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Schematic figure of GNRs attachment to targeted tachyzoit cells. Reprinted from [155] with permission from ACS Publications, Washington, DC, USA. (B) Scheme of PLNP-GNRs biocompatible nanocomposite platform for NIR-induced photothermal tumor therapy. Reprinted from [158] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Overview of GNRs properties and medical applications.
Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Overview of GNRs properties and medical applications.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) The designed nanosystem for a combination of chemo, thermal and gene delivery for glioblastoma. Reprinted from [131] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (B) Chitosan-GNR-based delivery system for siRNA-mediated cancer therapy. Reprinted from [140] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Schematic figure of the theranostics designed nanosystem, using pH-induced chlorin e6@ gold nanorods (Ce6-PEG-AuNR). Reprinted from [72] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (B) Schematic illustration of AuNR@MOFs@CPT theranostics nanosystem for tumor’s multiplexed photodynamic/photothermal/chemotherapy. MOF represents as metal-organic frameworks. Reprinted from [172] with permission from Wiley Online Library. (C) a dual functional GNR-based system for targeted drug delivery and intracellular ATP detection. Reprinted from [173] with permission from Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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