Multifunctional fluorescent titania nanoparticles: green preparation and applications as antibacterial and cancer theranostic agents

Abstract

Theranostic nanoparticles have attracted considerable attention in recently revolutionized medicine. Since the last decade, there has been a growing attempt to design various theranostic nanoparticles but difficulties still exist in the fabrication of their biocompatible one. Herein, fluorescent titania nanoparticles (FTN) were fabricated using a one-step green method. This FTN had ultra-high doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loading capacity (encapsulation efficiency 95.50% and loading content 38.20%) that release the loaded drug in response to acidic pH. In vitro cytotoxicity experiments on human osteosarcoma (SaOs-2) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines revealed superior anticancer efficacy (lowered the IC50 concentration by 3- and 5.5-fold for SaOs-2 and MCF-7 cells, respectively) and also better imaging for intracellular tracking of DOX/FTN relative to free DOX. Furthermore, the prepared nanoparticles showed efficient antibacterial activity against both gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922) and gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923) bacteria. In this study, we have developed novel theranostic titania nanoparticles with inherent fluorescence property for cancer imaging and therapy.