Latest advances in combining gold nanomaterials with physical stimuli towards new responsive therapeutic and diagnostic strategies

Abstract

Nanomedicine aims at enhancing the treatment efficiency and/or improving diagnostic sensitivity by better controlling several critical parameters, such as tissue targeting and off-target toxicity. More recently, advanced nanomedicine products have been developed so that to achieve spatially and temporally controlled therapy and diagnosis. This review focuses on gold nanomaterials (AuNMs) and alloy/hybrid AuNMs that can be used in stimuli-responsive strategies for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Endogenous and/or exogenous stimuli can be used as trigger for such systems. Herein, we focus on those AuNMs and alloy/hybrid AuNMs activated by exogenous stimuli. Our review starts from one specific externally activated AuNM product, Aurolase®, which recently underwent clinical studies. It then focuses on a specific physically-triggered AuNMs category, for which the exogeneous stimulus applied induces a structural transformation or modification that is essential for their therapeutic and/or diagnostic action. AuNMs are grouped by the nature of the function they exert (therapeutic or diagnostic) and the stimuli class. [READ THE ARTICLE](https://doi.org/10.33218/001c.12650)