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Theranostics 2017; 7(17):4240-4254. doi:10.7150/thno.22435 This issue Cite

Research Paper

Engineered Zn(II)-Dipicolylamine-Gold Nanorod Provides Effective Prostate Cancer Treatment by Combining siRNA Delivery and Photothermal Therapy

Kyung Hyun Min^{1, 2}, Young-Hwa Kim¹, Zhantong Wang¹, Jihoon Kim¹, Jee Seon Kim¹, Sun Hwa Kim², Kwangmeyung Kim², Ick Chan Kwon², Dale O. Kiesewetter¹, Xiaoyuan Chen^1✉

1. Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States;
2. Center for Theragnosis, Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Republic of Korea.

✉ Corresponding author: shawn.chengov

Abstract

Combination cancer treatment has emerged as a critical approach to achieve remarkable anticancer effect. In this study, we prepared a theranostic nanoformulation that allows for photoacoustic imaging as well as combination gene and photothermal therapy. Gold nanorods (GNR) were coated with dipicolyl amine (DPA), which forms stable complexes with Zn²⁺ cations. The resulting nanoparticles, Zn(II)/DPA-GNR, recognize phosphate-containing molecules, including siRNA, because of the specific interaction between Zn(II) and the phosphates. We chose anti-polo-like kinase 1 siRNA (siPLK) as our example for gene silencing. The strong complexation between Zn(II)/DPA-GNR and siPLK provided high stability to the nano-complexes, which efficiently delivered siRNA into the targeted cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The particle served as a theranostic agent because the GNRs of nano-complexes permitted effective photothermal therapy as well as photoacoustic imaging upon laser irradiation. This gene/photothermal combination therapy using siPLK/Zn(II)DPA-GNRs exhibited significant antitumor activity in a PC-3 tumor mouse model. The concept described in this work may be extended to the development of efficient delivery strategies for other polynucleotides as well as advanced anticancer therapy.

Keywords: dipicolylamine, metal-organic complexes, siRNA, gold nanorod, photothermal therapy, photoacoustic imaging, combination therapy, theranostics.

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