The nucleus is the most important organelle of a cancer cell; therefore, controlling its functions has been the primary motivation for nuclear targeting-based cancer therapy. Over the past 10 years, nanomaterials have offered a new type of delivery vehicle for targeted therapy because the drugs can be densely loaded on the nanocarrier, which simultaneously enhances the stability and pharmacokinetics of the molecules in vitro. Recently, nuclear targeting by peptide-modified gold nanoparticles has shown some success with improved anti-cancer efficacy. This therapeutic enhancement was attributed to the interaction of the nanomaterials with the cancer cell nucleus;  however, visualization of this interaction was not observed. Here, we report the direct observation of a two-component nanoconstruct interacting with cancer cell nuclei. We demonstrated the trafficking of the nanoconstructs to locations near the cancer cell nucleus and induced changes to the nuclear phenotype. We then tested how these nuclei-nanoconstruct interactions correlated with cell activity.

Direct observation of nanoparticle-cancer cell nucleus interactions

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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