Title:
Studies in using gold nanoparticles in treating cancer and inhibiting metastasis
Studies in using gold nanoparticles in treating cancer and inhibiting metastasis
Author(s)
Wu, Yue
Advisor(s)
El-Sayed, Mostafa A.
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Abstract
Based on statistics from the World Health Organization, cancer is among the top killers in the world. Metastasis, which is the process of cancer cells leaving their primary location and forming secondary tumor(s) in remote places in the body, is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths. The current anti-metastasis treatments are rarely effective therefore, this dissertation aims at developing new techniques of using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for cancer treatments and inhibiting metastasis. Chapter 1 introduces the general background of gold nanoparticles including their synthesis, physical and optical properties, their usage in cancer treatment and their biocompatibility. In Chapter 2, we introduce the AuNPs to cancer cells, and use their optical properties as sensing and imaging probes in order to study their impact on cancer cells for diagnosis and treatment. Chapter 3 focuses on the impact of AuNPs on the mechanical properties of cancer cells for inhibiting cancer cell migration and invasion. Chapter 4 studies the molecular mechanism in inhibiting cancer cell migration and invasion. After studying the AuNPs impact on cells, the purpose of Chapter 5 is to check the feasibility of utilizing AuNPs treatments for the inhibition of cancer metastasis in animals. This work differs from the previous studies in two major aspects: 1) Rational designs of AuNPs to achieve high specificity for inhibiting cancer cell migration and invasion, with a greatly reduced effective AuNP concentration to enhance biocompatibility. 2) Use of state-to-the-art high resolution microscopy imaging techniques and systematic mass spectrometry-based proteomics to gain deep understanding of the underlying principles involved. Biomechanical properties (such as nuclear stiffness) were also studied for revealing the mechanisms.
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Date Issued
2019-04-01
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Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Dissertation