Hybrid plasmonic magnetic nanoparticles as molecular specific agents for MRI/optical imaging and photothermal therapy of cancer cells

Nanoparticles which consist of a plasmonic layer and an iron oxide moiety could provide a promising platform for development of multimodal imaging and therapy approaches in future medicine. However, the feasibility of this platform has yet to be fully explored. In this study we demonstrated the use of gold-coated iron oxide hybrid nanoparticles for combined molecular specific MRI/optical imaging and photothermal therapy of cancer cells. The gold layer exhibits a surface plasmon resonance that provides optical contrast due to light scattering in the visible region and also presents a convenient surface for conjugating targeting moieties, while the iron oxide cores give strong T-2 (spin-spin relaxation time) contrast. The strong optical absorption of the plasmonic gold layer also makes these nanoparticles a promising agent for photothermal therapy. We synthesized hybrid nanoparticles which specifically target epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a common biomarker for many epithelial cancers. We demonstrated molecular specific MRI and optical imaging in MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. Furthermore, we showed that receptor-mediated aggregation of anti-EGFR hybrid nanoparticles allows selective destruction of highly proliferative cancer cells using a nanosecond pulsed laser at 700 nm wavelength, a significant shift from the peak absorbance of isolated hybrid nanoparticles at 532 nm.