Gold nanorods (GNRs) have emerged as promising nanomaterials for diagnostics, imaging, photothermal treatment and therapeutic delivery in cancer diseases. Chemically synthesized gold nanorods demonstrate rapid aggregation and poor colloidal stability in biologically relevant media. As a consequence, we generated poly(amino ether)-functionalized gold nanorods, or PAE-GNRs, using a layer-by-layer deposition approach; polymers from a poly(amino ether) library recently synthesized in our laboratory were employed to generate the PAE-GNR assemblies. PAE-GNRs are stable for up to four weeks and demonstrate a robust photothermal response, which was exploited for the hyperthermic ablation of prostate cancer cells. In addition, sub-toxic concentrations of PAE-GNRs generated using polymers from our laboratory demonstrated higher transgene expression and exhibited lower cytotoxicities when compared to similar assemblies generated using 25 kDa poly(ethylene imine) (PEI25k-GNRs), a current standard for polymer-mediated gene delivery. Our results indicate that surface engineering using judiciously selected biocompatible polymers leads to multifunctional gold nanorod-based assemblies that combine high stability and low cytotoxicity with photothermal ablation, transgene delivery, and optical imaging capabilities on a single theranostic platform.

Stable gold nanorod-poly(aminoether) assemblies for transgene delivery and photothermal ablation of cancer cells

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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