ABSTRACT

There is a need for a reliable, deep penetrating, noninvasive imaging tool with high sensitivity and specificity to detect cancer in early stages. One such imaging tool could be combined ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging enhanced by molecularly targeted plasmonic gold nanoparticles. This chapter shows that photoacoustic imaging could differentiate between cancer cells labeled with the molecular targeted gold nanoparticles and the cells mixed with nonspecific gold nanoparticles. It illustrates selective phototherapy in the near-infrared (NIR) region, using iron oxide core gold shell nanoparticles targeted to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These results could provide a basis for the development of a highly sensitive diagnostic and therapeutic approach for the detection and therapy of asymptomatic pre-cancers that overexpress EGFR. A blocking assay was performed to verify the molecular specificity of the anti-EGFR particles. The absorbance peak of the targeted phantom was red-shifted and broadened due to EGFR-mediated aggregation of gold nanoparticles.