Abstract Theranostic nanotherapeutic strategy has been widely emphasized now a day to develop next-generation nanomedicine. Dendrimer-entrapped gold nanoparticles (DE-Au-NP) have acquired emerging application in therapeutic, imaging as well as in theranostics sciences. DE-Au-NP decorated with a specific ligand for cancer cells could deliver contrast agents at target sites for imaging as well as chemotherapeutics for anticancer activity. Entrapped Au in DE-Au-NP complex could serve as an excellent contrast agent for CT imaging with better signal intensity to identify initial stages of cancer, whereas its photothermal effect can kill cancerous cells effectively. Although, reported nonspecific binding of DE-Au-NP due to free amine groups and associated toxicities of dendrimer complex could be minimized through PEGylation or acetylation of such surface amines. Recent research on gene delivery also revealed DE-Au-NP as an active tool to deliver plasmids to cancer cells to express/suppress particular protein(s) to combat against cancer.

中文翻译：

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载有树枝状大分子的金纳米粒子作为有前途的纳米载体用于抗癌治疗和成像

摘要 Theranostic nanotherapeutic 策略现在已被广泛强调，以开发下一代纳米医学。载有树枝状大分子的金纳米粒子 (DE-Au-NP) 已在治疗、成像以及诊疗科学中获得了新兴应用。DE-Au-NP 装饰有癌细胞的特定配体，可以在目标部位提供造影剂进行成像，以及用于抗癌活性的化学治疗。DE-Au-NP 复合物中的 Au 可以作为一种优良的 CT 成像造影剂，具有更好的信号强度来识别癌症的初始阶段，而其光热效应可以有效地杀死癌细胞。虽然，据报道，由于游离胺基团和树枝状聚合物复合物的相关毒性，DE-Au-NP 的非特异性结合可以通过此类表面胺的聚乙二醇化或乙酰化来最小化。最近关于基因传递的研究还表明，DE-Au-NP 是一种将质粒传递给癌细胞以表达/抑制特定蛋白质以对抗癌症的活性工具。