Design and evaluation of surface functionalized superparamagneto-plasmonic nanoparticles for cancer therapeutics

Abstract Designing a multifunctional nanomaterial is always considered as a biggest concern in the field of nanomedicine which aims to promote versatile action in a single use from tracking to therapeutics. Therefore, metallic nanoparticles are well exploited as a major platform with the assemblage of surface modifications which can be effectively engaged for plenty of applications. Here, in this work, we have successfully amalgamated gold coated magnetite core-shell nanoparticles along with bio-functionalization of folic acid and doxorubicin to explore its possibility as a distinct nanocargo for cancer nanotheranostics. This unique combination of both magnetic and optical properties makes its function to be more precise. For example, in case of in-vitro drug-release studies more than 75% of drug moieties are released at acidic pH 5.4 and exactly fitting in first order rate kinetics. As gold shell retains the superparamagnetic nature of the core it exhibited high r 2 values, and because of large relaxivities (r 2 /r 1 ) ratio, they are confirmed as T 2 -weighted contrast agent by MRI. Finally, under microwave of 2.45 GHz exhibited enough heat which can induce both apoptosis & necrosis leading to cell death. Thus, we conclude that our nanoparticle can be a multitool for diagnosis and therapeutics for various human diseases.