J Am Chem Soc. 2008 Aug 13;130(32):10643-7. Epub 2008 Jul 22

Highly efficient drug delivery with gold nanoparticle vectors for in vivo photodynamic therapy of cancer

Cheng Y, C Samia A, Meyers JD, Panagopoulos I, Fei B, Burda C.

 

 

A highly efficient drug vector for photodynamic therapy (PDT) drug delivery was developed by synthesizing PEGylated gold nanoparticle conjugates, which act as a water-soluble and biocompatible "cage" that allows delivery of a hydrophobic drug to its site of PDT action. The dynamics of drug release in vitro in a two-phase solution system and in vivo in cancer-bearing mice indicates that the process of drug delivery is highly efficient, and passive targeting prefers the tumor site. With the Au NP-Pc 4 conjugates, the drug delivery time required for PDT has been greatly reduced to less than 2 h, compared to 2 days for the free drug.

 

 

PMID: 18642918 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]