Gold nanoparticles designed for combining dual modality imaging and radiotherapy

The synthesis of gold nanoparticles; functionalized by gadolinium chelates constitutes an attractive way for combining imaging and therapy. The presence of gadolinium chelates allows monitoring their biodistribution after intravenous injection in small animals by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while the gold core strongly absorbs the X-ray photons. This feature is exploited for X-ray imaging but also for radiotherapy.