Nanometric gold in cancer nanotechnology: current status and future prospect.

OBJECTIVES: This review elaborate on modified gold nanoparticulate concept in oncology, provides an overview of the use of gold nanoparticles in cancer treatment and discusses their potential applications and clinical benefits. KEY FINDINGS: Modified gold nanoparticles (e.g. rod, multipod and star or a hollow structure such as shell, box and cage) have promising applications in the fields of drug delivery and photothermal therapy in oncology due to their unique optical and photothermal properties and their ability to modify the surface and conjugate drugs/molecules with gold nanomaterial. Modified gold nanoparticles exhibit strong light absorption in the near-infrared region in which light can penetrate deeply into soft tissue. Moreover, recent advances have opened the way to site-specific delivery by gold nanoparticle. SUMMARY: Recent research and development in cancer-targeted gold nanovectors shows promise for maximizing the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs while decreasing their harmful systemic effects in chemotherapy. Moreover, gold nanoparticles can also serve as cancer therapeutic.

Application of decoy oligonucleotides as novel therapeutic strategy: a contemporary overview.

Molecular therapy is emerging as a potential strategy for the treatment of many diseases. Correct regulation of gene expression is essential for both, to normal development and proper functioning of the all the organisms. Even after four decades of intensive research, it is still a major problem from regulatory and technical point of view, to replace defective genes. The technology of decoy oligonucleotides has received considerable attention to treat and cure a variety of diseases and abnormal physiological conditions, because they provide a rational way to design and selective regulation of a specific gene expression. Decoy oligonucleotides are widely used as inhibitors of specific gene expression because they can offer exciting possibility of expression and blocking of a particular gene without any changes in the functions of other genes. Advances in the decoy oligonucleotides are rapidly paving the way to new insights into the origin and treatment of inflammatory, cancer and/or other immune disorders. The review covers the progress achieved towards the development of decoy oligonucleotides as a potential strategy in a new class of molecular therapy.