Nanotechnology has become a trending area in science and has made great advances with the development of functional, engineered nanoparticles. Various metal nanoparticles have been widely exploited for a wide range of medical applications. Among them, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are widely reported to guide an impressive resurgence and are highly remarkable. AuNPs, with their multiple, unique functional properties, and easy of synthesis, have attracted extensive attention. Their intrinsic features (optics, electronics, and physicochemical characteristics) can be altered by changing the characterization of the nanoparticles, such as shape, size and aspect ratio. They can be applied to a wide range of medical applications, including drug and gene delivery, photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT) and radiation therapy (RT), diagnosis, X-ray imaging, computed tomography (CT) and other biological activities. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive review that summarized the applications of AuNPs in the medical field. Therefore, in this article we systematically review the methods of synthesis, the modification and characterization techniques of AuNPs, medical applications, and some biological activities of AuNPs, to provide a reference for future studies.

/pdf/multifunctional-gold-nanoparticles-a-novel-nanomaterial-for-1pazq8ueo8.pdf

Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticles: A Novel Nanomaterial for Various Medical Applications and Biological Activities

Nanomaterials, such as nanoparticles, nanorods, nanosphere, nanoshells, and nanostars, are very commonly used in biomedical imaging and cancer therapy. They make excellent drug carriers, imaging contrast agents, photothermal agents, photoacoustic agents, and radiation dose enhancers, among other applications. Recent advances in nanotechnology have led to the use of nanomaterials in many areas of functional imaging, cancer therapy, and synergistic combinational platforms. This review will systematically explore various applications of nanomaterials in biomedical imaging and cancer therapy. The medical imaging modalities include magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, positron emission tomography, single photon emission computerized tomography, optical imaging, ultrasound, and photoacoustic imaging. Various cancer therapeutic methods will also be included, including photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. This review also covers theranostics, which use the same agent in diagnosis and therapy. This includes recent advances in multimodality imaging, image-guided therapy, and combination therapy. We found that the continuous advances of synthesis and design of novel nanomaterials will enhance the future development of medical imaging and cancer therapy. However, more resources should be available to examine side effects and cell toxicity when using nanomaterials in humans.

/pdf/application-of-nanomaterials-in-biomedical-imaging-and-46iiw39o6f.pdf

Application of Nanomaterials in Biomedical Imaging and Cancer Therapy.

1796 Introduction: The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has become the cornerstone of molecular diagnosis, with almost every genetic test aiming to identify DNA sequence variation incorporating PCR. A commonly encountered problem is that variant DNA sequences exist in the presence of a large majority of wild type alleles such as when DNA is obtained from heterogeneous cancer biopsies or when fetal alleles are sought in maternal blood. As a result, downstream assays are severely limited in their ability to identify subtle genetic changes that can have profound impact in clinical decision-making and outcome. We describe Co-amplification at Lower Denaturation temperature (COLD-PCR), a novel form of PCR that amplifies minority alleles selectively from mixtures of wild-type and mutation-containing sequences irrespective of the mutation type or position on the sequence (Nature Medicine, In Press).  Methods: In COLD-PCR, an intermediate annealing temperature is used during PCR-cycling to allow cross-hybridization of mutant and wild type alleles; hetero-duplexes, which melt at lower temperatures than homo-duplexes, are then selectively denatured and amplified at Critical Denaturation Temperature (Tc), while homo-duplexes remain double-stranded and do not amplify efficiently. By fixing the denaturation temperature to Tc, mutations at any position along the sequence are enriched during COLD-PCR amplification. To validate COLD-PCR, we used serial dilutions of DNA from tumor-derived cell lines containing point mutations or micro-deletions at different positions along p53 exon 8 and Kras exon 1 (codons 12-13), or samples with micro-deletions in EGFR exon 19. In addition, genomic DNA from a series of colon and lung cancer surgical specimens, and plasma-circulating DNA collected under IRB approval were utilized for validation on clinical specimens.  Results: By replacing regular PCR with COLD-PCR prior to application of a range of assays (Sanger sequencing; Pyrosequencing; MALDI-TOF; dHPLC; RFLP; and Taqman) we improved mutation detection sensitivity up to 100-fold and identified several additional p53/Kras/EGFR mutations in heterogeneous cancer samples. 4 of 43 surgical samples and 3 of 10 plasma samples tested contained clinically important mutations that were not detected by any of the methods tested when preceded by regular-PCR, but they were detectable following COLD-PCR.  Conclusion: Replacement of regular PCR with COLD-PCR provides a universal boost to most mutation detection technologies and enables them to be used with the required confidence in routine screening of cancer specimens for somatic mutations, including low-level mutation screening of surgical/FFPE tumor samples or bodily fluids. COLD-PCR is also anticipated to find application in pre-natal diagnosis, in infectious diseases and in epigenetics.

Replacing PCR with COLD-PCR enriches variant DNA sequences and redefines the sensitivity of genetic testing in cancer

Zero-dimensional (0D) nanomaterials, including graphene quantum dots (GQDs), carbon quantum dots (CQDs), fullerenes, inorganic quantum dots (QDs), magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), noble metal nanoparticles, upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and polymer dots (Pdots), have attracted extensive research interest in the field of biosensing in recent years. Benefiting from the ultra-small size, quantum confinement effect, excellent physical and chemical properties and good biocompatibility, 0D nanomaterials have shown great potential in ion detection, biomolecular recognition, disease diagnosis and pathogen detection. Here we first introduce the structures and properties of different 0D nanomaterials. On this basis, recent progress and application examples of 0D nanomaterials in the field of biosensing are discussed. In the last part, we summarize the research status of 0D nanomaterials in the field of biosensing and anticipate the development prospects and future challenges in this field.

Application of Zero-Dimensional Nanomaterials in Biosensing.

Efficient polymer photocatalysts that mimic natural photosynthesis to generate H2 through the visible‐light‐promoted splitting of water are ideal systems for the conversion of solar energy into usable fuel with high energy density and in an environmentally friendly manner. In this article, we review recent reports on donor‐acceptor‐based π‐conjugated polymers as photocatalysts, including conjugated linear polymers, microporous polymers, triazine frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, polymer dots, and other related organic polymers, which show superior photocatalytic activity and robust stability under visible‐light irradiation, for hydrogen production. Moreover, their syntheses and material design strategies, photophysical properties, proposed mechanisms, and applications are systematically summarized. Finally, recent research on and challenges related to organic polymer photocatalysts are discussed. This minireview will help readers to more easily understand the recent advances in and future direction of this field.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/cctc.201901725

Recent Advances in Visible-Light-Driven Hydrogen Evolution from Water using Polymer Photocatalysts

Au nanoparticles (NPs) possess unique physicochemical and optical properties, showing great potential in biomedical applications. Diagnostic spectroscopy utilizing varied Au NPs has become a precision tool of in vitro and in vivo diagnostic for cancer and other specific diseases. In this review, we tried to comprehensively introduce the remarkable optical properties of Au NPs, including localized surfaces plasmon resonance (LSPR), surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), and metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF). Then, we highlighted the excellent works using Au NPs for optical diagnostic applications. Ultimately, the challenges and future perspective of using Au NPs for optical diagnostic were discussed.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/18/4346/pdf

Optical Diagnostic Based on Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles.

Gold nanocrystals have attracted considerable attention due to their excellent physical and chemical properties and their extensive applications in plasmonics, spectroscopy, biological detection, and nanoelectronics. Gold nanoparticles are able to be readily modified and arranged with DNA materials and protein molecules, as well as viruses. Particularly DNA materials with the advantages endowed by programmability, stability, specificity, and the capability to adapt to functionalization, have become the most promising candidates that are widely utilized for building plenty of discrete gold nanoarchitectures. This review highlights recent advances on the DNA-based assembly of gold nanostructures and especially emphasizes their resulted superior optical properties and principles, including plasmonic extinction, plasmonic chirality, surface enhanced fluorescence (SEF), and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).

DNA-Assisted Assembly of Gold Nanostructures and Their Induced Optical Properties.

Nucleic acid based nanocomposites and their applications in biomedicine

Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based polymer dots (Pdots), fabricated by semiconducting polymers and exhibiting excellent properties, have attracted much interest in the last decade, however, full polymer-dot-based pH sensors are seldom systematically exploited by researchers. In this work, we constructed a kind of blend polymer dot, utilizing poly[(9,9-dihexyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-vinylene)-co-(1-methoxy-4-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-2,5-phenylenevinylene)] (PFV) as the donor, poly[2,5-bis(3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (BDMO-PPV) as the acceptor, and polysytrene graft EO functionalized with carboxy (PS-PEG-COOH) to generate surface carboxyl groups. This type of Pdot, based on the FRET process, was quite sensitive to pH value changes, especially low pH environments. When the pH value decreases down to 2 or 1, the fluorescence spectrum of Pdots-20% exhibit spectral and intensity changes at the same time, and fluorescence lifetime changes as well, which enables pH sensing applications. The sharpening of the emission peak at ~524 nm, along with the weakening and blue shifts of the emission band at ~573 nm, imply that the efficiency of the energy transfer between PFV and BDMO-PPV inside the Pdots-20% decreased due to polymer chain conformational changes. The time-resolved fluorescence measurements supported this suggestion. Pdots constructed by this strategy have great potential in many applications, such as industrial wastewater detection, in vitro and intracellular pH measurement, and DNA amplification and detection.

FRET-Based Semiconducting Polymer Dots for pH Sensing.

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Optical Diagnostic Based on Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles.

DNA-Assisted Assembly of Gold Nanostructures and Their Induced Optical Properties.

Nucleic acid based nanocomposites and their applications in biomedicine

FRET-Based Semiconducting Polymer Dots for pH Sensing.