Abstract
Numerous developments in optical biomedical imaging research utilizing gold nanostructures as contrast agents have advanced beyond basic research towards demonstrating potential as diagnostic tools; some of which are translating into clinical applications. Recent advances in optics, lasers and detection instrumentation along with the extensive, yet developing, knowledge-base in tailoring the optical properties of gold nanostructures has significantly improved the prospect of near-infrared (NIR) optical detection technologies. Of particular interest are optical coherence tomography (OCT), photoacoustic imaging (PAI), multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT), Raman spectroscopy (RS) and surface enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SESORS), due to their respective advancements. Here we discuss recent technological developments, as well as provide a prediction of their potential to impact on clinical diagnostics. A brief summary of each techniques' capability to distinguish abnormal (disease sites) from normal tissues, using endogenous signals alone is presented. We then elaborate on the use of exogenous gold nanostructures as contrast agents providing enhanced performance in the above-mentioned techniques. Finally, we consider the potential of these approaches to further catalyse advances in pre-clinical and clinical optical diagnostic technologies.
Highlights
The term “cancer theranostics”[1,2,3] is o en broadly associated with a combination of cancer targeting strategies, contrast agents and therapeutic agents
We focus on the promising advances in both gold nanostructure contrast agents and optical modalities while critically discussing the clinical prospects of their allied strengths
Gold nanostructures have fascinating optical properties that originate from localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) that are generated when they interact with light
Summary
Gold nanostructures have fascinating optical properties that originate from localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) that are generated when they interact with light. They have been tested on humans and demonstrate great promise for rapid clinical imaging or detection of abnormal diseased tissues These techniques overcome tissue scattering, SORS bene ts from it, enabling deeper detection where there is a trade-off between penetration, depth detection and spatial resolution depending on the particular optical setup. These techniques can be utilized to visualize endogenous tissue or tumour features (inherent signal from various components/parts of the tissue), the scope and utility can bene t signi cantly from exogenous contrast agents (external agents that need to be injected into the body/tissue), such as gold nanostructures. This enhancement in performance makes this a promising approach for assessing the response to antiangiogenic therapies[33] where imaging of the microvasculature is crucial, this is yet to be demonstrated in practice
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