Synthesis of gold nanorods and their performance in the field of cancer cell imaging and photothermal therapy

• Published in: Cancer nanotechnology Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 1 - 33
• Main Authors: Khan, Naseer Ullah, Lin, Jing, Younas, Muhammad Rizwan, Liu, Xukun, Shen, Liming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.12.2021; Springer Nature B.V; BMC
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biocompatibility; Bioimaging; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Cancer; Cancer cells; Cancer Research; Cancer therapies; Chemistry and Materials Science; Gold; Gold nanorods; Materials Science; Medical imaging; Nanorods; Nanotechnology; Optical activity; Optical properties; Photothermal therapy; Plasmon band; Plasmons; Reagents; Review; Self-assembly; Toxicity; Photothermal therapy; Bioimaging; Gold nanorods; Plasmon band; Cancer cells
• ISSN: 1868-6958; 1868-6966
• DOI: 10.1186/s12645-021-00092-w

Cancer is one of the most common incident in the world, with malignant tumors having a death rate of up to 19%. A new method of treating cancer cells effectively with minimal cytotoxicity is needed. In the field of biomedicine with unique shape-dependent optical properties, gold nanorods (GNRs) have attracted worldwide interest. These nanorods have two distinct plasmon bands. One is transverse plasmon band in the area of visible light, and the other is longitudinal band of plasmons in near infrared region. These specific characters provide promise for the design of new optically active reagents that simultaneously perform light-mediated imaging and photothermal cancer treatment. We begin our review by summarizing the latest developments in gold nanorods synthesis with a focus on seed-mediated growth method. Nanorods spontaneous self-assembly, polymer-based alignment and its applications as a novel agent for simultaneous bioimaging and photothermal cancer therapy are listed in particular.