Gold Nanoclusters for Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment

Nanomedicine shows remarkable potential to improve the efficacy of diagnosis and treatment of tumors, utilizing nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged as a highly promising option due to their exceptional optical and enzyme-mimicking catalytic activities as well as good biocompatibility. The renal clearable clusters can enrich in the tumors upon their enhanced permeability and retention properties, which benefits the tumor-related applications. The fluorescence of AuNCs in the second near-infrared region possesses extraordinary penetration depth and high temporal–spatial resolution, enabling excellent in vivo imaging and real-time monitoring of pathological process. AuNC-based nanoplatforms represent a paradigm of integrated, efficient, intelligent, and safe treatment strategy, extending personalized tumor therapy. Meanwhile, the optical and biocatalytic properties can be modulated by adopting the atom/ligand engineering, which further enhances the efficacy of AuNCs. Herein, the advances of AuNCs in the field of diagnosis and treatment of tumors are summarized and the directions to be improved are proposed to promote the clinical translation of the AuNCs.