Synthesis and In Vitro Evaluation of Gold Nanoparticles Functionalized with Thiol Ligands for Robust Radiolabeling with (99m)Tc

Radiolabeled gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely used for cancer diagnosis and therapy over recent decades. In this study, we focused on the development and in vitro evaluation of four new Au nanoconjugates radiolabeled with technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) via thiol-bearing ligands attached to the NP surface. More specifically, AuNPs of two different sizes (2 nm and 20 nm, referred to as Au((2)) and Au((20)), respectively) were functionalized with two bifunctional thiol ligands (referred to as L(1)H and L(2)H). The shape, size, and morphology of both bare and ligand-bearing AuNPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques. In vitro cytotoxicity was assessed in 4T1 murine mammary cancer cells. The AuNPs were successfully radiolabeled with (99m)Tc-carbonyls at high radiochemical purity (>95%) and showed excellent in vitro stability in competition studies with cysteine and histidine. Moreover, lipophilicity studies were performed in order to determine the lipophilicity of the radiolabeled conjugates, while a hemolysis assay was performed to investigate the biocompatibility of the bare and functionalized AuNPs. We have shown that the functionalized AuNPs developed in this study lead to stable radiolabeled nanoconstructs with the potential to be applied in multimodality imaging or for in vivo tracking of drug-carrying AuNPs.