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Biomarker-specific photothermal nanoparticles that can efficiently sense the markers, which are overexpressed in
distinguished adenocarcinomas, has attracted much interest in an aspect of efficacy increase of cancer treatment. In this
study, we demonstrated a promising prospect of smart photothermal therapy agent employing anti-epidermal growth
factor receptor aptamer (AptEGFR)-conjugated polyethylene glycol (PEG)layted gold nanorods (AptEGFR-PGNRs). The
cetyltrimethylammonium bromide bilayer on GNRs was replaced with heterobifunctional polyethylene glycol (COOHPEG-
SH) not only to serve as a biocompatible stabilizer and but also to conjugate AptEGFR. Subsequently, to direct
photothermal therapy agent toward epithelial cancer cells, the carboxylated PEGylated GNRs (PGNRs) were further
functionalized with AptEGFR using carbodiimide chemistry. And then, to assess the potential as biomarker-specific
photothermal therapy agent of synthesized AptEGFR-PGNRs, the optical properties, biocompatibility, colloidal stability,
binding affinity and epicellial cancer cell killing efficacy in vitro/in vivo under NIR laser irradiation were investigated.
As a results, AptEGFR-PGNRs exhibit excellent tumor targeting ability and feasibility of effective photothermal ablation
cancer therapy.
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