Hyaluronic acid-functionalized gold nanoparticles as a cancer diagnostic probe for targeted bioimaging applications

A nanomaterial-based bioimaging method was developed to detect the MCF-7 cancer cells using hyaluronic acid (HA) functionalized-gold nanoparticles/polyetherimide (PEI)-stabilized/rhodamine B (RhB) (AuNPs/PEI/RhB-HA) materials. The fabricated materials have low-toxic nature with exceptional specific attachment to the CD44 receptor overexerted MCF-7-cancer cells. The toxicity test of the materials was evaluated by MTT assay with threshold toxicity concentration of 100 µg/mL. This finding was validated using DAPI staining assay showing no cell death during exposure to nanoparticles. The bioimaging of the AuNPs/PEI/RhB-HA were evaluated by flow cytometry and fluorescence imaging techniques. Also, the cell differentiation of the AuNPs/PEI/RhB-HA was also investigated by incubation with CD44-low expressed HFFF-2 as control group. The uptake percentage of the AuNPs/PEI/RhB-HA nanoparticles for MCF-7 cells were 13.1%, 52.4% and 97.5% for 10 µg/mL, 20 µg/mL and 50 µg/mL after about 4 h of incubation, respectively. However, these values for HFFF-2 cells were around 0.88%, 16.1% and 33.9%, respectively, confirming selective manner of the probe towards CD44-overxeperssed cells. The produced nanoparticles displayed high physical stability with high quantum yield, qualifying the nanoparticles as a brilliant material for in vivo cancer diagnosis aims.