Potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications of one-step in situ biosynthesized gold nanoconjugates (2-in-1 system) in cancer treatment

Synthesis of nanoparticles by a green chemistry approach has seen great attention due to several advantages compared to conventional chemical methods. In this present article we have demonstrated a biosynthetic approach for the fabrication of gold nanobioconjugates (AuNPs-OX) using Olax Scandens leaf extract. The as-synthesized AuNPs-OX have been thoroughly characterized by several physicochemical techniques. The stability of AuNPs-OX was investigated by UV-visible spectroscopy in various physiological solutions. A plausible mechanism for the formation and stabilization of AuNPs-OX has been briefly discussed. Administration of AuNPs-OX to cancer cell lines of lung (A549), breast (MCF-7) and colon (COLO 205) shows the significant inhibition of cancer cell proliferation compared to pristine Olax Scandens leaf extract. Additionally, fluorescence image of A549 cancer cells incubated with AuNPs-OX shows brighter red fluorescence than the cancer cells treated with only Olax leaf extract. Therefore we strongly believe that the green synthesized AuNPs-OX could be used as a 2-in-1 system for potential application of cancer diagnostics as well as therapeutics in the near future.