Gold Nanoparticles Show Potential for "Cooking” Cancer Cells

Researchers are reporting a long-awaited development toward applying the wonders of nanotechnology in the fight against cancer. They have developed the first hollow gold nanospheres --smaller than the tiniest flecks of dust--that seek out and "cook" cancer cells. The cancer-destroying nanospheres demonstrate particular promise as a minimally invasive future treatment for malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Melanoma now causes more than 8,000 deaths annually in the United States alone and is increasing globally. The researchers presented their findings at the American Chemical Society's 237th U.S. national meeting, held in Salt Lake City, UT, USA, in March 2009. The gold nanospheres are equipped with a special peptide; that protein fragment draws the nanospheres directly to melanoma cells, while avoiding healthy skin cells. After collecting inside the cancer, the nanospheres heat up when exposed to near-infrared light, which penetrates deeply through the surface of the skin. In recent research in mice, the hollow gold nanospheres did eight times more damage to skin tumors than the same nanospheres without the targeting peptides, according to the researchers.

"This technique is very promising and exciting," explained study coauthor Jin Zhang, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California in Santa Cruz (USA). "It's basically like putting a cancer cell in hot water and boiling it to death. The more heat the metal nanospheres generate, the better." This form of cancer therapy is actually a variation of photothermal ablation, also known as photoablation therapy (PAT), a technique in which doctors use light to burn tumors. Since the technique can destroy healthy skin cells, clinicians must carefully control the duration and intensity of treatment.

Researchers now know that PATs can be greatly enhanced by applying a light-absorbing material, such as metal nanoparticles, to the tumor. Although researchers have developed various types of metal nanoparticles to help improve this technique, many materials show poor penetration into cancer cells and limited heat carrying capacities. These particles include solid gold nanoparticles and nanorods that lack the desired combination of spherical shape and strong near-infrared light absorption for effective PAT, according to the scientists.

To develop more effective cancer-burning compounds, Dr. Zhang and colleagues focused on hollow gold nanospheres--each approximately 1/50,000th the width of a single human hair. Previous studies by others suggest that gold "nanoshells" have the potential for strong near-infrared light absorption. However, scientists have been largely not capable of producing them effectively in the lab, Dr. Zhang noted.

After years of research toward this goal, Dr. Zhang announced in 2006 that he had finally developed a nanoshell or hollow nanosphere with the appropriate agent for cancer therapy: Gold spheres with an optimal light absorption capacity in the near-infrared region, small size, and spherical shape, ideal for penetrating cancer cells and burning them up. "Previously developed nanostructures such as nanorods were like chopsticks on the nanoscale," Dr. Zhang said. "They can go through the cell membrane, but only at certain angles. Our spheres allow a smoother, more efficient flow through the membranes."

The gold nanoshells, which are nearly perfect spheres, range in size from 30-50 nanometers--thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. The shells are also much smaller than other nanoparticles previously designed for photoablation therapy, according to Dr. Zhang. Another advantage is that gold is also safer and has fewer side effects in the body than other metal nanoparticles, he noted.

Working with Chun Li, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX, USA), Dr. Zhang and his associates equipped the nanospheres with a peptide to a protein receptor that is abundant in melanoma cells, giving the nanospheres the ability to target and destroy skin cancer. In experiments using mice, the resulting nanospheres were found to be considerably more effective than solid gold nanoparticles due to much stronger near infrared-light absorption of the hollow nanospheres, the researchers say.

The next step is to try the nanospheres in humans, according to Dr. Zhang. This requires extensive preclinical toxicity studies. The mice study is the first step, and there is a long way to go before it can be put into clinical practice.

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