Magnetic/Gold Core–Shell Hybrid Particles for Targeting and Imaging-Guided Photothermal Cancer Therapy

The development of hybrid particles for tumor diagnosis and therapy has received considerable attention because they are capable of combining tumor diagnosis and treatment concurrently. So far hybrid particles for efficient and safe tumor theranostics are still very limited. Herein we have designed a new type of hybrid particles and evaluated its potential to be used in image-guided cancer diagnosis and therapy without the need of any toxic anticancer or contrast agents. The hybrid particles, consist of magnetic nanoparticles which are embedded in the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) cores and gold shells on chitosan (CTS) (γ-Fe₂O₃ @PMMA/CTS@Au). The hybrid particles were synthesized through initial formation of the core–shell structured γ-Fe₂O₃ @PMMA/CTS particles containing approximately 20% loading of magnetic nanoparticles. A gold layer was then built on top of the core–shell magnetic particles via a reduction of gold salt by amines from the chitosan assisted with the reducing agent NaBH₄, followed by growing to complete gold shells in the presence of ascorbic acid (42.6% Au content). The properties of the composite particles including their chemical composition, morphology, particle size, size distribution, surface charge, magnetic responsiveness and photothermal ability were systematically characterized. The potential application of the γ-Fe₂O₃ @PMMA/CTS@Au hybrid particles in tumor diagnosis and therapy was assessed in vitro and in vivo using 4T1 tumor cells and 4T1 tumor-bearing mice through combining magnetic targeting, photoacoustic (PA)/computed tomography (CT) imaging and photothermal therapy. Results suggest that the γ-Fe₂O₃ @PMMA/CTS@Au particles can serve as a multifunctional tumor theranostic nanoplatform for magnetically targeted photothermal therapy. Breast cancer has been effectively eliminated without the use of any anticancer drugs or contrast agents. Therefore, this type of core–shell hybrid particles represents a new composite particle design for effective and safe tumor theranostics.