Gold Innovations Blog » theranostics http://www.goldinnovationsblog.com Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:37:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Gold nanoparticles and theranostics http://www.goldinnovationsblog.com/gold-nanoparticles-and-theranostics http://www.goldinnovationsblog.com/gold-nanoparticles-and-theranostics#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:42:07 +0000 Trevor Keel http://www.goldinnovationsblog.com/?p=1615 Theranostics is a term which many of you may not be familiar with, but it describes much sought after combinations of  diagnostic and therapeutic processes. Traditionally, diagnostics and therapeutics are quite separate – if you are feeling unwell, you will visit your GP who will diagnose your illness (with a blood test, for example) and then prescribe the relevant treatment. Combining these two activities offers considerable benefits – speed of treatment, improved patient management/compliance and cost. Examples of theranostics currently on the market include Genentech’s Herceptin and Novartis’ Gleevec.

With this in mind I was fascinated to read this paper, recently published in the journal Nanotechnology. The team, working in the US and Europe, report the development of so-called ‘plasmonic nanobubbles’ (PNBs). These PNBs are effectively tunable and transient probes based around gold nanoparticles. The authors describe how such nanobubbles may potentially be used in 1) non-invasive imaging , 2) controlled-release, intra-cellular delivery and 3) selective and guided cell and tissue damage – true ‘theranostic’ potential!

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