Cancer is currently the second leading cause of death worldwide. To treat cancer, various therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy, hyperthermia, and radiotherapy have been developed and utilized. Chemotherapy is a common type of cancer treatment that effectively kills cancer cells at advanced stages. However, because anti-cancer drugs alone could not selectively target the tumor cells, healthy cells are also killed. Thus, there is a need to discover new chemotherapeutics with selectivity toward cancer cells. To contribute to the development of effective drug delivery system that can target and kill cancer cells with minimal damage to healthy cells, we developed Pluronic F-108 stabilized triphenylphosphine-modified gold nanoparticles (F-108@TPP-AuNPs) that can potentially be used as combined chemo- and thermo-therapeutic agent. Triphenylphosphine (TPP) was selected as the capping agent because studies have shown that gold(I)-phosphine complexes such as TPP-gold(I) chloride are cytotoxic, suggesting that TPP modified gold nanoparticles can be used in chemotherapy. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were also chosen because they can selectively target cancer cells, image tumors, and induce hyperthermia. The nanoparticles were stabilized using a polymeric shell of Pluronic F-108. Characterizations (UV-Vis, PXRD, FTIR, EDX, TEM, TGA, and XPS) confirmed the formation of spherical AuNPs surrounded with TPP molecules and stabilized with a polymeric shell of Pluronic F-108. The IC<sub>50</sub> of F-108@TPP-AuNP on Hela cells was found to be two-folds lower than the free TPP gold(I) chloride.

Triphenylphosphine-modified gold nanoparticles as potential chemo- and thermo-therapeutic agent

256th National Meeting (2018)

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