In Vitro Evaluations of Multifunctional Nanocomposite for Multimodal Cancer Therapy

Therapeutic efficacy of the synthesized multifunctional nanocomposites for plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT)-assisted multimodal cancer therapies can be evaluated in vitro on cancer cell lines through available standard in vitro assays. Such in vitro evaluations are conducted with the treatment parameters (dose of PPTT agent or multifunctional nanocomposite, near-infrared (NIR) radiation intensity and duration) optimized during therapeutic characterizations based on the nanocomposite suspension studies. These in vitro evaluations are used for (a) biological characterization of the synthesized multifunctional nanocomposite, (b) evaluation of cellular uptake, (c) assessment of individual therapeutic effects (like photodynamic therapy (PDT) or immunotherapy) used in tandem with PPTT for multimodal cancer therapy and (d) assessment of overall therapeutic outcome. A number of standard qualitative and quantitative in vitro assays are available in the literature. However, the selection of an in vitro assay to study various parameters depends on the end application. This chapter provides a comprehensive compilation of various in vitro assays or methods available in the literature required for qualitative and quantitative analysis of various therapeutic aspects for PPTT-assisted multimodal cancer therapy. Then, a summary of the discussed in vitro assays, together with the parameters relevant to a particular assay, is presented, which will assist the readers with ease in selecting a suitable assay based on the required application. Lastly, the applications of in vitro assays are discussed in detail, along with examples of in vitro evaluations for multifunctional gold nanocomposite synthesized by the authors.