Antibody-drug gold nanoantennas with Raman spectroscopic fingerprints for in vivo tumour theranostics

Conde J¹, Bao C², Cui D², Baptista PV³, Tian F⁴.

J Control Release. 2014 Jun 10;183:87-93.

¹Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain; CIGMH, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal. Electronic address: [email protected] and

²Department of Bio-Nano Science and Engineering, National Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Fabrication Technology, Institute of Micro&Nano Science and Technology, Shanghai, PR China and

³CIGMH, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal and

⁴Focas Research Institute, Dublin Institute of Technology, Camden Row, Dublin, Ireland. Electronic address: [email protected]

Abstract

 Inspired by the ability of SERS nanoantennas to provide an integrated platform to enhance disease targeting in vivo, we developed a highly sensitive probe for in vivo tumour recognition with the capacity to target specific cancer biomarkers such as epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on human cancer cells and xenograft tumour models. Here, we used ~90nm gold nanoparticles capped by a Raman reporter, encapsulated and entrapped by larger polymers and a FDA antibody-drug conjugate – Cetuximab (Erbitux®) – that specifically targets EGFR and turns off a main signalling cascade for cancer cells to proliferate and survive. These drug/SERS gold nanoantennas present a high Raman signal both in cancer cells and in mice bearing xenograft tumours. Moreover, the  Raman detection signal is accomplished simultaneously by extensive tumour growth inhibition in mice, making these gold  nanoantennas  ideal for cancer nanotheranostics, i.e. tumour detection and tumour cell inhibition at the same time.

Published by Elsevier B.V.

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