Assessment of the therapeutic potential of gold nanoparticles against Collagen-Induced Arthritis in rats

Abstract

RA is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by chronic inflammation of synovial tissue that results in irreversible joint damage. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are promising new drugs for treatment of RA. In this study, we have developed two shapes of AuNPs; AuNRs and AuNSs conjugated with three different surface Ligands; RGD, PEG and NLS respectively. AuNRs@RGD are AuNRs conjugated with Arginylglycylaspartic acid. AuNSs@PEG and AuNSs@NLS are AuNSs conjugated with polyethylene glycol and nuclear localization sequence peptide respectively. These surface ligands have been selected carefully based on their mode of action. The present study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of AuNPs with different shapes and ligands for the treatment of RA and compared them with the conventional (MTX) and biological (infliximab) treatments using CIA model. Female adult Wistar rats (8 weeks old) were divided into 8 groups (10 rats/group). Group 1 was kept as the control group. The remaining animals, from groups 2 to 8 were all subjected to collagen injection, representing the CIA model. Group 2 remained without any treatment. Groups 3 and 4 received chemotherapeutic and biological treatment respectively. While, groups 5 to 8 were treated intra-articularly with different AuNPs. The design of the experimental groups was summarized as follow: