Multifunctional gadolinium oxide nanoparticles: towards image-guided therapy

Owing to their multifunctional character, nanoparticles appear well suited for combining sensing, imaging and therapy. Nanoparticles composed of a gadolinium oxide core and a polysiloxane shell were designed for the detection of biomolecules, fluorescence and MRI, and for cancer therapy. Each component (gadolinium oxide core and polysiloxane shell) of these nanoparticles plays a crucial role and enables the resulting nanoparticles to emit intense but transient light and/or long-lived and highly photostable light, to enhance the contrast of magnetic resonance images, to improve the colloidal stability, to specifically interact with biomolecules, to absorb x-ray photons and to capture thermal neutrons. The hybrid gadolinium oxide nanoparticles exhibit a great potential for sensing applications and for image-guided therapy.