Due to their size and radiochemical features, radioactive gold nanoparticles constitute promising tools for cancer therapy. A new approach aimed at providing gold nanoparticles with optimal tumoral specificity and retention has been developed by Ravi Shulka, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA, and colleagues.

The team conjugated the surface of Au-198 nanoparticles with epigallocatechin-gallate (EGCg), a flavonoid able to selectively and specifically bind the lamin receptor. As this receptor is highly expressed on the membrane of human prostate cancer cells, its high binding affinity to EGCg allowed a selective internalization of Au-198 nanoparticles in prostatic tumor cells as well as their retention into them. This strategy thus significantly reduced tumoral growth in mice models.

• Laminin receptor specific therapeutic gold nanoparticles (¹⁹⁸AuNP-EGCg) show efficacy in treating prostate cancer,
  R. Shukla, N. Chanda, A. Zambre, A. Upendran, K. Katti, R. R. Kulkarni, S. K. Nune, S. W. Casteel, C. J. Smith, J. Vimal, E. Boote, J. D. Robertson, P. Kan, H. Engelbrecht, L. D. Watkinson, T. L. Carmack, J. R. Lever, C. S. Cutler, C. Caldwell, R. Kannan, K. V. Katti,
  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2012, 109 (31), 12426–12431.
  DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1121174109