Anti-CD30-targeted gold nanoparticles for photothermal therapy of L-428 Hodgkin's cell

Xiaochao Qu,^1,2,* Cuiping Yao,^2,* Jing Wang,² Zheng Li,² Zhenxi Zhang,<sup>2

1</sup>Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China; ²Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Education Ministry, Institute of Biomedical Analytical Technology and Instrumentation, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

^*These authors contributed equally to this work

Purpose: Due to the efficient bioconjugation and highly photothermal effect, gold nanoparticles can stain receptor-overexpressing cancer cells through specific targeting of ligands to receptors, strongly absorb specific light and efficiently convert it into heat based on the property of surface plasmon resonance, and then induce the localized protein denaturation and cell death.
Methods: Two gold nanoparticle–antibody conjugates, gold-BerH2 antibody (anti-CD30 receptor) and gold-ACT1 antibody (anti-CD25-receptor), were synthesized. Gold-BerH2 conjugates can specifically bind to the surface of L-428 Hodgkin's cells, and gold-ACT1 conjugates were used for the control. The gold nanoparticle-induced L-428 cell-killing experiments were implemented with different experimental parameters.
Results: At a relatively low concentration of gold and short incubation time, the influence of cytotoxicity of gold on cell viability can be overlooked. Under laser irradiation at suitable power, the high killing efficiency of gold-targeted L-428 cells was achieved, but little damage was done to nontargeted cancer cells.
Conclusion: Gold nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy provides a relatively safe therapeutic technique for cancer treatment.

Keywords: gold nanoparticle–antibody conjugates, surface plasmon resonance, laser irradiation, selective destruction, photothermal treatment, cancer

Erratum for this paper has been published