Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with an estimate diameter of 25 nm have been synthesized and characterized using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Zeta potential measurements. AuNPs were coated with D2B, a monoclonal antibody recognizing an extracellular epitope of the human prostate specific membrane antigen (hPSMA). Binding of D2B to PSMA induces endocytosis of the latter, thereby marking PSMA as a docking site for the delivery of therapeutic agents. To attain a stabilized and covalent bond between D2B and AuNPs, the sulthydryl group (SH) in a cysteine ...

Herein, we describe, a simple method for the synthesis of dendrigraft poly-L-lysine (d-PLL) coated gold nanoparticles in water (AuNPs-d-PLL) as potential vehicles of siRNA delivery to prostate cancer cells, PC3-PSMA. AuNPs-d-PLL with diameters ranging between 50 ̶ 130 nm have been synthesized in aqueous solutions using d-PLL (7 KD) as a capping ligand and L-ascorbic acid as a reducing agent. The size of the resulting AuNPs was found to depend on several parameters, such as the concentrations of gold salt, reducing agent, and d-PLL. The obtained AuNPs-d-PLL were characterized using UV-visible ...