Multifunctional Fe3O4-Au Nanoparticles for the MRI Diagnosis and Potential Treatment of Liver Cancer

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 10; no. 9; p. 1646
• Main Authors: Kozenkova, Elena, Levada, Kateryna, Efremova, Maria V., Omelyanchik, Alexander, Nalench, Yulia A., Garanina, Anastasiia S., Pshenichnikov, Stanislav, Zhukov, Dmitry G., Lunov, Oleg, Lunova, Mariia, Kozenkov, Ivan, Innocenti, Claudia, Albino, Martin, Abakumov, Maxim A., Sangregorio, Claudio, Rodionova, Valeria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 21.08.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Biomolecules; Biotechnology; Calorimetry; Cancer therapies; Conjugation; Contrast agents; Cytotoxicity; Gold; Heterostructures; Hyperthermia; Industrial applications; Iron oxides; Liver; Liver cancer; Magnetic fields; Magnetic fluids; Magnetic measurement; Magnetic resonance imaging; magnetic-plasmonic nanoparticles; Magnetite; MRI contrast agent; nano-heterostructures; Nanoparticles; Noble metals; Optical properties; Polymers; Software; Spectroscopy; Statistical analysis; theranostic; Thermal decomposition; Toxicity; United States > US; Germany; Russia
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano10091646

Heterodimeric nanoparticles comprising materials with different functionalities are of great interest for fundamental research and biomedical/industrial applications. In this work, Fe3O4-Au nano-heterostructures were synthesized by a one-step thermal decomposition method. The hybrid nanoparticles comprise a highly crystalline 12 nm magnetite octahedron decorated with a single noble metal sphere of 6 nm diameter. Detailed analysis of the nanoparticles was performed by UV-visible spectroscopy, magnetometry, calorimetry and relaxometry studies. The cytotoxic effect of the nanoparticles in the human hepatic cell line Huh7 and PLC/PRF/5-Alexander was also assessed. These Fe3O4-Au bifunctional nanoparticles showed no significant cytotoxicity in these two cell lines. The nanoparticles showed a good theranostic potential for liver cancer treatment, since the r2 relaxivity (166.5 mM−1·s−1 and 99.5 mM−1·s−1 in water and HepG2 cells, respectively) is higher than the corresponding values for commercial T2 contrast agents and the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value obtained (227 W/gFe) is enough to make them suitable as heat mediators for Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia. The gold counterpart can further allow the conjugation with different biomolecules and the optical sensing.