Understanding gold nanoparticles and their attributes in ovarian cancer therapy

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is one the deadliest disease wherein the survival rate is very low. Despite of advances in medical sciences, researches are still at the stage of infancy where patients are succumbing to this malignancy. Multidrug resistance, toxicity, mode of treatment related issues like catheter related complication poises a number of challenges to scientists worldwide. Novel therapy is now thus being focussed to sensitive the cells more towards the treatment. Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), known for their high biocompatibility, and strong optical and magnetic responses, have emerged as promising agents for both the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. Owing to physical characteristics, AuNPs may be used as adjuvants in bioimaging, radiotherapy and fluorescence imaging. As a result, these characteristics substantially support AuNPs in biological domains. In addition to their therapeutic potential, Au NPs exhibit strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties, enhancing imaging techniques for early detection of ovarian tumors. Furthermore, chemical properties such as Magnetic Resonance and Imaging Properties, X-ray imaging property, Two-photon or multiphoton imaging, and Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging properties enhance the use of Au NPs in diagnosis. This paper highlights the properties, targeting potential and diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer by Au NPs has been discussed.