Plasmonic nanodendrites stabilized with autologous serum proteins for sustainable host specific photothermal tumor ablation

Abstract

Green synthesis of gold nanodendrites involving autologous serum proteins as both a template and stabilizer is reported. The nanodendrites, also termed as ‘Plasmonic NanoSera’ (PNS), with size ∼150 nm, possess anisotropic dense branches with a broad extinction cross section across the visible-near infrared (I & II) regions. The PNS, with a photothermal conversion efficiency of ∼58%, demonstrated significant phototoxicity in cancer cells associated with elevated intracellular reactive oxygen species. The PNS did not cause acute toxicity with intravenous administration at 20 mg kg⁻¹ dosage. Intra-tumoral injection of autologous mouse serum protein-derived PNS followed by 808 nm Laser irradiation generated an ∼78% higher localized temperature rise compared to a saline control in the 4T1 breast tumor model, thereby suppressing both the tumor growth and tumor burden-associated splenomegaly. This proof-of-concept study validates the preclinical safety and host-specific photothermal efficacy of PNS.