Biofunctionalized MnFe2O4@Au core–shell nanoparticles for pH-responsive drug delivery and hyperthermal agent for cancer therapy

Abstract

Novel materials are explored very often by material scientists to design an efficient drug delivery system to target carcinoma cells. Among various nanosystem, functionalized Iron oxide Nanoparticles (IoNP) were definitely studied especially to target, endocyte and release drug moieties inside the cells. This IoNP platform is usually composed of an inorganic core and a highly biocompatible shell layer in order to perform numerous tasks at the same time, such as drug delivery, multimodal imaging, and instantaneous monitoring, along with collective therapeutic approaches. Hence, in this work, MnFe2O4@Au nanoparticles (Mf@A) are used as a structure for docking anti-cancer drug using a coupling molecule for the precise targeting. The formation of the core–shell structure was corroborated by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and line mapping techniques. Superconducting quantum interference device confirms the fabricated nanostructure is favorably superparamagnetic. The stability of nanoparticles was examined by measuring the zeta-potential measurements. The binding efficiency of the drug onto the Mf@A was found to be >90%. Drug-release was carried out at different pH and found that the release is maximum at lower pH. Finally, at 2.45GHz we employed as a magneto-hyperthermal agent which produced heat to kill the cancerous cell.