Gold Nanoparticle-Small Drug Molecule Conjugates: Therapeutic Applications and Benefits as Compared to Free Drug

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been profoundly investigated for drug delivery applications. Various widely used small drugs molecules when conjugated either covalently or non-covalently with the AuNPs, showed improved therapeutic effect with reduced dose and adverse effects as compared to drug alone. This review focuses on therapeutic efficiency of AuNPs-small drug molecule conjugates as anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, antiretroviral and anti-arthritic agents. The basic approaches of conjugation, brief of procedure followed for activity determination and mechanism of action of conjugates have also been discussed.