Table 3.

The relationship between GNPs’ properties and autophagy.

	Properties		Cell Type		Cell Death			Ref.
	Size	Surface	Normal	Cancer	Apoptosis	Necrosis	Autophagy
GNPs	5 nm	citrate	PDLPs		N.A.	N.A.	bloakade of autophagy	[105]
	5 nm	citrate	HK-2		+ (only in hypoxic cells)	N.A.	+ (in hypoxic cells > in normoxic cells)	[104]
	20 nm	citrate	MRC-5		N.A.	N.A.	+	[100]
	10, 25, 50 nm	citrate	NRK		N.A.	N.A.	+ (blockade of autophagic flux, 50 nm > 25 nm > 10 nm)	[103]
	13, 45 nm	citrate	PDLPs		N.A.	N.A.	+ (45 nm > 13 nm)	[105]
GNRs	N.A.	CTAB		HCT116, BEL7402	+	N.A.	+	[107]
	N.A.	CTAB	HEK293T, L02, HFF	PC3	N.A.	N.A.	+	[107]
	N.A.	CTAB/PSS, CTAB/PAH, CTAB/PSS/PAH, CTAB/PAH/PSS		HCT116	−	N.A.	−	[107]
	55 nm × 14 nm (length × diameter)	CTAB		A549	N.A.	N.A.	+	[108]
		PSS, PDDAC		A549	N.A.	N.A.	−	[108]
	average length of 10–40 nm	N.A.	Vero		+	N.A.	N.A.	[72]
	average length of 10–40 nm	N.A.	NIH3T3		−	N.A.	+	[72]
	average length of 10–40 nm	N.A.	MRC-5		−	N.A.	N.A.	[72]
GNSs	54 ± 9 nm	no coating (GNSs), HS-PEG-NH2 (NH2-GNSs), HS-PEG-FA (FA-GNSs), cysteine-terminated TAT (TAT-GNSs)		KB	+ (TAT-GNSs > FA-GNSs > NH2-GNSs > GNSs)	N.A.	+ (TAT-GNSs > FA-GNSs > NH2-GNSs > GNSs)	[109]

+: positive results; −: negative results; N.A.: not available.