Proapoptotic\nPeptide-Templated Au Nanoclusters Selectively\nEnhance Radiosensitivity of Cancer Cells

Radiotherapy is an important treatment strategy in clinical\noncology,\nbut patients still take the risk of severe side effects when receiving\nradiation. It is urgent to develop safe and efficient radiosensitizers\nto selectively enhance tumor radiosensitivity and thus reduce the\neffective irradiation dose. In this work, we design and synthesize\npeptide-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) as tumor-targeted nanoradiosensitizers.\nA newly designed pro-apoptotic peptide (CCYKLA) is introduced for\nthe synthesis of AuNCs. We demonstrate that KLA@AuNCs exhibit uniform\nsize distribution and good photoluminescence (PL) characteristics\nas well as highly efficient tumor targeting and selective enhancement\nof cancer cell radiosensitivity. In synergy with radiotherapy, KLA@AuNCs\neffectively inhibited tumor growth in vivo and exhibited good biosafety.\nThe present work provides a promising strategy for selectively improving\nthe radiosensitivity of cancer cells by nanomaterials and facilitates\nthe clinical translation of nanoradiosensitizers.