Functional gold nanoparticles for analysis and delivery of nucleic acids

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have become the rising stars in the field of nanotechnology and made a revolution in exploiting the profundity of genomics due to their distinguished properties such as stability, ease in preparation and conjugation, biocompatibility, and unique optical properties. These characteristics have greatly expanded their applications such as sensitive and selective quantitation of nucleic acids and as effective carriers for specifically delivering various important molecules/biomolecules to various targets, which are the cornerstone in treating genetic disorders. This review comprehensively discusses the most recent progress in utilization of AuNPs in quantitation and delivery of nucleic acids. The future prospects and challenges of various methods have also been illustrated. It is believed that researchers will continue to overcome the limitations in previous approaches and AuNPs will still play vital roles in the development of diagnosis and treatment of gene-related diseases.

Fig. 1

Summaries of the researches of AuNPs applied in quantitation and delivery of nucleic acids.

Fig. 2

(A) Design of the tetrahedral capture probes-based lateral flow test strip. (B) Schematic illustration of the ratiometric strip sensor for detecting exosomal microRNA-150–5p. (C) Investigation of the sensitivity of biosensor [18].

Fig. 3

(A) Schematic illustration of the detection of HBV DNA with RCA and AuNP tags. (B) spICP-MS profile spectra of different target concentrations [27].

Fig. 4

(A) Schematic diagram of Ω-shaped FO-LSPR biosensor based on mismatched HCR and AuNPs for cfDNA detection. (B) Time monitoring results for detection of target cfDNA with different concentrations. (C) The net change of absorbance with the increased concentration of cfDNA [30].

Fig. 5

(A) Preparation of nanocomplex for combined anti-inflammatory chemo-gene therapy of ALI. (B) RT-PCR assay of the mRNA expression of different inflammation-related factors [39].

Fig. 6

(A) Schematic representation of LBL-CS-AuNPs for siRNA delivery. (B) Evaluation of the knockdown efficacy of LBL-CS-AuNPs [46].

Fig. 7

(A) Schematic illustration of the GX1-targeting nanoparticles for combinational therapy for colon cancers treatment. (B) The gene transfection efficiency of the nanoplatform with different N/P ratios determined by flow cytometry [60].