Department of Physical Therapy Faculty Articles

Multifunctional Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy-Detectable Silver Nanoparticles for Combined Photodynamic Therapy and pH-Triggered Chemotherapy

Publication Title

Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology

Publisher

American Scientific Publishers

ISSN

1550-7041

Publication Date

12-1-2016

Keywords

doxorubicin, multifunctional nanoparticles, PH-triggered release, photodynamic therapy, silver nanoparticles

Abstract

This research paper reports the development of a multifunctional anti-cancer prodrug system based on silver nanoparticles. This prodrug system is composed of 70-nm sized nanoparticles and features photodynamic therapeutic properties and active, pH-triggered drug release. The silver nanoparticles are decorated with a folic acid (FA) targeting ligand via an amide bond, and also conjugated to the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX) via an acid-cleavable hydrazone bond. Both FA and DOX are attached to the silver nanoparticles through a polyethylene glycol (PEG) spacer. This prodrug system can preferentially enter cells that over-express folic acid receptors, with subsequent intracellular drug release triggered by reduced intracellular pH. Moreover, the silver nanoparticle carrier system exhibits photodynamic therapeutic (PDT) activity, so that the cell viability of cancer cells that overexpress folate receptors can be further reduced upon light irradiation. The dual effects of pH-triggered drug release and PDT increase the therapeutic efficacy of this system. The multifunctional nanoparticles can be probed intracellularly through Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) and fluorescence spectroscopy. The current report explores the applicability of this multifunctional silver nanoparticle-based system for cancer theranostics.

DOI

10.1166/jbn.2016.2312

Volume

12

Issue

12

First Page

2202

Last Page

2219

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Physical Therapy | Rehabilitation and Therapy

Peer Reviewed

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