Seedless synthetic branched gold nanoshells for chemo-thermal antitumor therapy.

Gold nanomaterials (GNMs) were used in photothermal therapy due to their superior optical properties and excellent biocompatibility. However, the complex preparation process of seed-mediated growth limits further clinical applications of GNMs. Herein, we report a novel one-pot approach to rapidly prepare liposome-based branched gold nanoshell (BGNS) as a drug nanocarrier for antitumor. This efficient seedless synthesis realized tunable absorption peaks of BGNS by changing concentration of Au precursor solution controllably, which have a high absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) window to achieve superior photothermal effect. The hyperthermia during NIR laser irradiation can ablate the tumor and trigger drug release to achieve synergistic treatment. After the laser irradiation, the nanocarriers disintegrated into individual gold nanoparticles (size about 8nm), which can be metabolized by the kidneys. Cell experiments In vitro and bearing-tumor mice experiment have confirmed that our nanodrugs have strong antitumor effects. Such a flexible method provides a universal approach to rapidly prepare liposome-based gold nanoshell, which has the potential for large-scale preparation in further clinical application.