Precise therapeutic effect of self-assembling gold nanocluster–PTEN complexes on an orthotropic model of liver cancer

Purpose Presently, liver cancer is still one of the malignant tumors with high mortality. As far as the treatment of liver cancer is concerned, the most effective method is still liver transplantation. But every year, many liver cancer patients die from the lack of a proper liver transplant, or from waiting for a liver transplant. Therefore, it is very important to find new and effective treatment for patients with liver cancer. Methods Herein, the cell model and the orthotropic liver tumor mice model have been performed to verify the results of our treatment. We found that the in situ synthesized gold nanocluster–PTEN (GNC–PTEN) complexes can effectively target and realize the fluorescence imaging of the liver tumor. Results GNC–PTEN complexes could inhibit the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of liver cancer cells. And the results also showed that GNC–PTEN complexes could be well targeted liver tumor at 6 h and the liver tumor in mice group treated with GNC–PTEN complexes almost disappeared. Conclusion This is a simply and effectively method to realize liver cancer imaging and inhibition. This may raise the possibility for the accurate image/diagnosis and simultaneously efficient treatment of liver cancer in the relevant clinic application.