• Biomolecules-based gold nanomaterials as theranostic agents in diagnosis and treatment
  • Atiyeh Nomani,1,* Fatemeh Jalali,2 Fatemeh Mahmoudimeymand,3 Siamak Javani,4
    1. MSc. Student, Dept. of Nanomedicine ,School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
    2. MSc. Student, Dept. of Nanomedicine ,School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
    3. MSc. Student, Dept. of Nanomedicine ,School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
    4. Assistant professor, Dept. of Nanomedicine ,School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran


  • Introduction: Nanotheranostic is a great approach based on the combination of therapy and diagnosis in improving personalized treatment. Gold nanomaterials(GNMs) due to their unique features such as non-toxicity, and optical properties such as localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) are appropriate for theranostic applications. LSPR depends on GNMs, in such wise that LSPR changes with different bio-functionalization. The interaction of biomolecules (DNA, amino acids, and peptides) with GNMs could generate various gold nanostructures with tunable LSPR features with different theranostic applications. This review has examined biomolecule-based GNMs as theranostic agents in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
  • Methods: Keywords of gold, nanostructures, theranostics nanomedicine, and surface plasmon resonance are searched in ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Scopus databases. The papers of the years 2012-2022 were examined for information extraction.
  • Results: Plasma proteins- templated gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) exhibit a highly effective ROS generation under visible irradiation. Human plasma proteins- stabilized Au NCs show spectroscopic and photodynamic therapy features that possess both cancer diagnostic and treatment. Gold nanodumbbells conjugation with nucleolin-targeted DNA aptamer AS1411 as a targeted gold nano theranostics have revealed high efficacy in near-infrared II photoacoustic imaging-guided photothermal therapy for subcutaneous 4T1 tumors. Site-specific conjugation of a thermally sensitive elastin-like polypeptide to gold nanoparticles exhibited simultaneous photothermal /photoacoustic /X-ray computed tomographic imaging and PTT of melanoma.
  • Conclusion: According to studies, biomolecule-based GNMs could perform as theranostic nanoplatforms with tunable features such as tunable LSPR features. Therefore biomolecules-based GNMs possess wider therapeutic and diagnosis applications which should be explored in the future.
  • Keywords: Gold, nanostructures, theranostics nanomedicine, surface plasmon resonance