Multifunctional gold nanoparticles for gene therapy

许多化学药品用于诊断或治疗的一个主要障碍是缺乏组织特异性。用于分子成像的标签或药物携带系统必须在不被免疫系统检测到的情况下在血液中循环，并且必须识别理想的目标，并发出可检测的信号或在其中传递药物。NANOTRUCK项目旨在开发一种创新的多功能金纳米颗粒，该纳米颗粒装载荧光和肿瘤标记物、细胞穿透肽和原癌基因myc的RNAi互补。这种生物功能化将允许NPs与生物系统之间的相互作用，范围从体外培养的人类细胞到体内动物模型（原始水螅和复杂脊椎动物小鼠）。这个新的纳米平台将允许肿瘤细胞的靶向和检测，以及对基因肿瘤治疗的细胞反应的研究，将其转化为新兴治疗领域的有力工具。

A major obstacle in the use of many chemicals for diagnosis or treatment is the lack of tissue specificity. A tag for molecular imaging or a drug-carrying system would have to circulate in the blood stream undetected by the immune system and would have to recognize the desirable target and gives a detectable signal or delivers the drug in it. This NANOTRUCK project intends to develop an innovative kind of multifunctional gold nanoparticles loaded with fluorescent and tumoral markers, cell penetrating peptides and RNAi complementary to the proto-oncogene myc. This biofunctionalization will allow the interaction between NPs and biological systems, ranging from in vitro cultured human cells to in vivo animal models (primitive Hydra and complex vertebrate mouse). This new nanoplatform will allow the targeting and detection of tumor cells and also the study of cellular response against gene tumoral therapy, converting it in a potent tool for the emerging area of theragnostics.