Computational models of gold nanoparticles for medical diagnostics and therapy

该计划旨在开发一种方法，用于肿瘤的联合检测，治疗和治疗监测，从而彻底改变几种类型癌症的检测和治疗。人们对利用金纳米颗粒（GNP）的靶向递送来提供肿瘤和正常组织之间的增加的“对比度”以用于热疗法（其指的是使用热来凝固和破坏肿瘤）和光声成像（用于成像的光子和声音的组合使用）两者有很大的兴趣。几项研究发现，当GNP存在时，通过间质激光热疗法的肿瘤破坏大大增强（称为等离子体光热疗法，或PPTT）。最近，一些研究小组发现，含有GNP的区域在光声成像中更亮，其中一个研究小组发现，当颗粒被二氧化硅包裹时，信号强度增加了三倍。还有证据表明，当官能化的金纳米棒被加热时，等离子体共振峰显著偏移，这是由金纳米链（GNC）的形成引起的。因此，该研究计划的长期目标是利用金纳米结构的动态等离子体行为进行组合光声肿瘤检测，具有内在温度反馈控制的PPTT治疗，以及PPTT期间的温度/损伤监测。该研究计划的更具体的短期目标是：1）对GNP产生的光声信号进行建模; 2）研究PPTT中自组装GNC温度自调节的使用; 3）研究PPTT期间自组装用于温度监测的使用。 这些目标将通过计算模型来实现，该计算模型将通过将我们已经开发的GNP的等离子体模型耦合到我们已经开发的粘弹性物体的声散射的另一个模型来创建。

The program aims to develop a method for the combined detection, treatment and treatment monitoring of tumours in a way that would revolutionize the detection and treatment of several types of cancer. There has been a lot of interest in utilizing the targeted delivery of gold nano-particles (GNPs) to provide increased "contrast" between tumour and normal tissue for both thermal therapy (which refers to the use of heat to coagulate and destroy tumours) and photoacoustic imaging (the combined use of photons and sound for imaging). Several studies have found that tumour destruction by interstitial laser thermal therapy is greatly enhanced when GNPs are present (known as plasmonic photo-thermal therapy, or PPTT). Recently a few groups have found that regions containing GNPs are brighter in photoacoustic imaging, and one group found that the signal intensity increased three-fold when the particles were coated with silica. There is also evidence that the plasmon resonance peak shifts significantly when functionalized gold nano-rods are heated, caused by the formation of gold nano-chains (GNCs). Therefore the long-term objective of the research program is to utilize the dynamic plasmon behaviour of gold nano-structures for combined photoacoustic tumour detection, PPTT treatment with intrinsic temperature feedback control, and temperature/damage monitoring during PPTT. The more specific, short-term, objectives of the research program are to 1) model photoacoustic signal generation from GNPs; 2) investigate the use of self-assembling GNCs temperature self-regulation in PPTT; and 3) investigate the use of self-assembling for temperature monitoring during PPTT. These objectives will be met by computational models that will be created by coupling a plasmonics model of GNPs that we have developed to another model we have developed on acoustic scattering by viscoelastic objects.