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Updated: Apr 4, 2026
Biomolecular Imaging of Cellular Uptake of Nanoparticles using Multimodal Nonlinear Optical Microscopy
Published on: May 16, 2022
Multifunctional gold nanostars for molecular imaging and cancer therapy
Yang Liu1, Hsiangkuo Yuan2, Andrew M Fales2
1Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Chemistry, Duke University Durham, NC, USA.
Abstract:
Plasmonics-active gold nanoparticles offer excellent potential in molecular imaging and cancer therapy. Among them, gold nanostars (AuNS) exhibit cross-platform flexibility as multimodal contrast agents for macroscopic X-ray computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), as well as nanoprobes for photoacoustic tomography (PAT), two-photon photoluminescence (TPL), and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Their surfactant-free surface enables versatile functionalization to enhance cancer targeting, and allow triggered drug release. AuNS can also be used as an efficient platform for drug carrying, photothermal therapy, and photodynamic therapy (PDT). This review paper presents the latest progress regarding AuNS as a promising nanoplatform for cancer nanotheranostics. Future research directions with AuNS for biomedical applications will also be discussed.
