Biocompatible graphitic carbon nitride based fluorescent probe for imaging of breast cancer cell

Abstract

Fluorescence imaging materials have gained recent attention compared to existing organic compounds, which have limited lifetime and low stability in biological environments. In this work, a superparamagnetic g-C3N4@FeNi3 heterostructure is developed for sensitive and early cancer detection, showing its potential for fluorescence imaging guidance and monitoring the targeted cancerous cells. Apart from superparamagnetic behaviour, biocompatibility of g-C3N4@FeNi3 heterostructure was evaluated in Human Embryonic Kidney cell line (HEK293) and human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) which showed no significant change in their viability from 10 µM to 500 µM concentration. Further, confocal fluorescence microscopy in living cancer cells confirmed the potential of this heterostructure in overcoming the drawbacks of commercial fluorophores and their merit of application as labels for optical imaging.