Functional gold nanoparticles for analysis and delivery of nucleic acids

Po-Tsang Huang ^a,b, Yen-Ling Chen ^a,c,d, Yi-Hui Lin ^f, Chun-Chi Wang ^a,e,g,**, Huan-Tsung Chang ^h,i,j,k,*

^a School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807378, Taiwan

^b Division of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung 802301, Taiwan

^c Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi 621301, Taiwan

^d Department of Fragrance and Cosmetic Science, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807378, Taiwan

^e Drug Development and Value Creation Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807378, Taiwan

^f School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung 406040, Taiwan

^g Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung 807378, Taiwan

^h Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan

ⁱ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan

^j Center for Advanced Biomaterials and Technology Innovation, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan

^k Division of Breast Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have become the rising stars in the field of nanotechnology and made a revolution in exploiting the profundity of genomics due to their distinguished properties such as stability, ease in preparation and conjugation, biocompatibility, and unique optical properties. These characteristics have greatly expanded their applications such as sensitive and selective quantitation of nucleic acids and as effective carriers for specifically delivering various important molecules/biomolecules to various targets, which are the cornerstone in treating genetic disorders. This review comprehensively discusses the most recent progress in utilization of AuNPs in quantitation and delivery of nucleic acids. The future prospects and challenges of various methods have also been illustrated. It is believed that researchers will continue to overcome the limitations in previous approaches and AuNPs will still play vital roles in the development of diagnosis and treatment of gene-related diseases.