Protein-Stabilized Gadolinium Oxide-Gold Nanoclusters Hybrid for Multimodal Imaging and Drug Delivery

A protein-stabilized multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform, gadolinium oxide-gold nanoclusters hybrid (Gd2O3–AuNCs), is constructed for multimodal imaging and drug delivery. The Gd2O3–AuNCs nanohybrid is developed by integrating Gd2O3 nanocrystals and gold nanoclusters into bovine serum albumin scaffold as a stabilizer. The nanohybrid exhibits favorable biocompatibility and is capable of enhancing the contrast in magnetic resonance and X-ray computed tomography imaging. Meanwhile, the integrated AuNCs component not only endows the nanohybrid to produce red fluorescence, but also sensitizes the generation of singlet oxygen (1O2) upon near-infrared laser stimulation at 808 nm. Bovine serum albumin surrounding the nanoparticles makes Gd2O3–AuNCs a brilliant carrier for the delivery of indocyanine green (ICG). ICG loading endows the Gd2O3–AuNCs–ICG nanocomposite with a near-infrared fluorescence imaging capability, and improves its photodynamic property and photothermal capability. Ultimately, further experiments have demonstrated that Gd2O3–AuNCs–ICG nanocomposite is a promising theranostic agent for image guided cancer therapy.