Engineering antibody-gold nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are emerging as promising platforms for antibody-based cancer therapy. Their distinctive physicochemical properties allow the binding of a large amount of antibodies to a single particle, potentiating their therapeutic potential. However, there is need to elucidate the effect of common synthesis approaches on the antibody-GNP characteristics and activity. This study investigated the effects of common synthesis approaches, namely, covalent binding and physical adsorption, on the properties of antibody-coated GNPs. We found that antibody mass affected antibody binding efficiency. Moreover, covalent binding of antibodies to GNPs had superior cancer cell killing ability as compared to the adsorption method. These findings highlight the critical role of synthesis approaches for efficacy of antibody-bound GNPs for cancer therapy.