A Photothermal Therapy Strategy for Monitoring Real-Time Temperature in Kidney Cancers by Injecting Gold Nanorods with Phosphors.

Photothermal ablation therapy (PTA) has been widely reported; however, it is not possible to predict the internal temperature of the tumor in real time that causes ineffective treatment and normal tissue burns. Here, we have designed a photothermal therapy strategy under real-time temperature monitoring by injecting gold nanorods (AuNRs) and NaYF4: Yb3+ /Er3+ into the tumor site where AuNRs are used for PTA of cancer cells by converting the absorbed energy into heat and using Yb3+ , Er3+-NaYF 4 phosphors to monitor the temperature inside the tumor. Our experiments confirm the effectiveness of this strategy, which is expected to be an aid in the development of real-time temperature monitoring and effective photothermal therapy for the treatment of cancers.

Single source precursor synthesized CuS nanoparticles for NIR phototherapy of cancer and photodegradation of organic carcinogen.

Herein, we report cost effective and body compatible CuS nanoparticles (NPs) derived from a single source precursor as photothermal agent for healing deep cancer and photocatalytic remediation of organic carcinogens. These NPs efficiently kill MCF7 cells (both in vivo and in vitro) under NIR irradiation by raising the temperature of tumor cells. Such materials can be used for the treatment of deep cancer as they can produce a heating effect using high wavelength and deeply penetrating NIR radiation. Furthermore, CuS NPs under solar light irradiation efficiently convert p-nitrophenol (PNP), an environmental carcinogen, to p-aminophenol (PAP) of pharmaceutical implication. In a nutshell, CuS can be used for the treatment of deep cancer and for the remediation of carcinogenic pollutants. There seems an intrinsic connection between the two functions of CuS NPs that need to be explored in length.

A powerful combination of copper-cysteamine nanoparticles with potassium iodide for bacterial destruction.

Herein, for the first time, we demonstrate that the combination of copper-cysteamine (Cu-Cy) nanoparticles (NPs) and potassium iodide (KI) can significantly inactivate both Gram-positive MRSA and Gram-negative E. coli. To uncover the mystery of the killing, the interaction of KI with Cu-Cy NPs was investigated systematically and the products from their interaction were identified. No copper ions were released after adding KI to Cu-Cy NPs in cell-free medium and, therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the Fenton reaction induced by copper ions is not responsible for the bacterial killing. Based on the observations, we propose that the major killing mechanism involves the generation of toxic species, such as hydrogen peroxide, triiodide ions, iodide ions, singlet oxygen, and iodine molecules. Overall, the powerful combination of Cu-Cy NPs and KI has good potential as an independent treatment or a complementary antibiotic treatment to infectious diseases.