Towards a nanobiosensing of oral cancers using targeted plasmonic gold

Nanoparticles [NP] are characterized by unique optical properties. Their enhanced light scattering and absorption added to their size scale make them well suited for molecular imaging of cancers. Noble metals, especially gold nanoparticles, strongly absorb light in the visible and the near infrared and hold the greatest potential in cancer diagnosis. Bioconjugation of gold nanoparticles with monoclonal antibodies against the epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR] efficiently targets epithelial precancers and cancers. A high level of EGFR expression is known to be associated with aggressiveness and poor prognosis of epithelial cancers. Epithelial tumor constituting the vast majority of oral malignancies, and the oral cavity being accessible for endoscopy and laser light, we pretend that the oral lesions will be between the primary sites amenable for the application of these new diagnostic tools. In this work, we explored whether the previously reported individual cell microspectoroscopic changes [SPR red shift] occurring upon incubation of targeted gold nanoparticles with cancerous cells will occur when the suspensions of cancer cells are treated similarly. Our results were not identical to the previous ones. This may be due to dilution of the targeted nanoparticles in the cell culture media. Further work is needed to define the size, shape, and the concentration of the nanoparticles before these materials are used in efficient nanobiosensing of oral cancers