Gold nanostar‐based complexes applied for cancer theranostics.

Cancer remains a major health problem that plagues human beings, calling widespread attention to develop novel theranostics to achieve sensitive diagnosis and efficient therapy. Multifunctional nanomedicine that can integrate diagnosis with treatment formulations has been emerging as a powerful strategy to overcome the current drawbacks in conventional clinical cancer treatments. Due to the good biocompatibility, easy surface modification, surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)/computed tomography (CT)/photoacoustic (PA) imaging properties, and exceptional photothermal performance of gold nanostars (AuNSs), various AuNS‐based complexes or nanohybrids including metal compound/AuNSs, SiO2/AuNSs, polymer/AuNSs, and dendrimer/AuNSs, and so forth have been developed, holding great blueprint in cancer theranostics. Herein, we concisely review the recent progresses in the intriguing design of AuNS‐based nanoplatforms, and their applications in bioimaging, therapy and imaging‐guided cancer treatment, and clarify the possible future perspectives for the design of AuNS‐facilitated cancer theranostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]