TY - JOUR
T1 - Gold-based nanoplataform for the treatment of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma
T2 - A step forward
AU - Amaral, Mariana
AU - Charmier, Adília J.
AU - Afonso, Ricardo A.
AU - Catarino, José
AU - Faísca, Pedro
AU - Carvalho, Lina
AU - Ascensão, Lia
AU - Coelho, João M.P.
AU - Manuela Gaspar, M.
AU - Reis, Catarina Pinto
N1 - Funding: Authors gratefully acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through projects UIDB/00645/2020, UIDB/04138/2020, PTDC/MED-QUI/31721/2017, UIDP/04138/2020 and Lusófona University, ULHT. Authors are also thankful to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020, UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds.
PY - 2021/3/2
Y1 - 2021/3/2
N2 - Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a very rare subtype of thyroid carcinoma and one of the most lethal malignancies. Poor prognosis is mainly associated with its undifferentiated nature, inoperability, and failing to respond to the typically used therapies for thyroid cancer. Photothermal Therapy (PTT) entails using light to increase tissues’ temperature, leading to hyperthermia-mediated cell death. Tumours are more susceptible to heat as they are unable to dissipate it. By using functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that transform light energy into heat, it is possible to target the heat to the tumour. This study aims to formulate ATC-targeted AuNPs able to convert near-infrared light into heat, for PTT of ATC. Different AuNPs were synthetized and coated. Size, morphology, and surface plasmon resonances band were determined. The optimized coated-AuNPs were then functionalized with ligands to assess ATC’s specificity. Safety, efficacy, and selectivity were assessed in vitro. The formulations were deemed safe when not irradiated (>70% cell viability) and selective for ATC. However, when irradiated, holo-transferrin-AuNPs were the most cytotoxic (22% of cell viability). The biodistribution and safety of this formulation was assessed in vivo. Overall, this novel formulation appears to be a highly promising approach to evaluate in a very near future.
AB - Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a very rare subtype of thyroid carcinoma and one of the most lethal malignancies. Poor prognosis is mainly associated with its undifferentiated nature, inoperability, and failing to respond to the typically used therapies for thyroid cancer. Photothermal Therapy (PTT) entails using light to increase tissues’ temperature, leading to hyperthermia-mediated cell death. Tumours are more susceptible to heat as they are unable to dissipate it. By using functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that transform light energy into heat, it is possible to target the heat to the tumour. This study aims to formulate ATC-targeted AuNPs able to convert near-infrared light into heat, for PTT of ATC. Different AuNPs were synthetized and coated. Size, morphology, and surface plasmon resonances band were determined. The optimized coated-AuNPs were then functionalized with ligands to assess ATC’s specificity. Safety, efficacy, and selectivity were assessed in vitro. The formulations were deemed safe when not irradiated (>70% cell viability) and selective for ATC. However, when irradiated, holo-transferrin-AuNPs were the most cytotoxic (22% of cell viability). The biodistribution and safety of this formulation was assessed in vivo. Overall, this novel formulation appears to be a highly promising approach to evaluate in a very near future.
KW - Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma
KW - Gold nanoparticles
KW - Novel therapies
KW - Photothermal therapy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102347644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cancers13061242
DO - 10.3390/cancers13061242
M3 - Article
C2 - 33808984
AN - SCOPUS:85102347644
SN - 2072-6694
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 24
JO - Cancers
JF - Cancers
IS - 6
M1 - 1242
ER -