Nanoshells with Targeted Simultaneous Enhancement of Magnetic and Optical Imaging and Photothermal Therapeutic Response

Integrating multiple functionalities into individual nanoscale complexes is of tremendous importance in biomedicine, expanding the capabilities of nanoscale structures to perform multiple parallel tasks. Here, the ability to enhance two different imaging technologies simultaneously-fluorescence optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging-with antibody targeting and photothermal therapeutic actuation is combined all within the same nanoshell-based complex. The nanocomplexes are constructed by coating a gold nanoshell with a silica epilayer doped with Fe3O4 and the fluorophore ICG, which results in a high T-2 relaxivity (390 mM(-1) s(-1)) and 45X fluorescence enhancement of ICG. Bioconjugate nanocomplexes target HER2+ cells and induce photothermal cell death upon near-IR illumination.