Protein-Nanoparticle Agglomerates as a Plasmonic Magneto-Luminescent Multifunctional Nanocarrier for Imaging and Combination Therapy.

We report the fabrication of a plasmonic magneto-luminescent multifunctional nanocarrier (PML-MF nanocarrier) by lysozyme-mediated agglomeration of gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (IO@AuNPs) and subsequent coating of these agglomerates with BSA-stabilized gold nanoclusters (BSA-AuNCs). The agglomeration-mediated enhancement of plasmonic absorbance at the NIR biological window helped in plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) by PML-MF nanocarriers. PML-MF nanocarriers demonstrated excellent in vitro bioimaging and magnetic targeting capabilities due to the strong photoluminance and superparamagnetism of the constituent AuNCs and IO@AuNPs, respectively. Moreover, these nanocarriers showed the successful loading and delivery of doxorubicin to cancer cells with a significant killing efficiency that could be synergistically improved by combining with PPTT.