Superparamagnetic Fe3O4is a nontoxic near infrared photothermal material that has captured considerable attention. Recently efforts have been made to improve its targeting property for magnetic resonance imaging and thermal therapy. In some cases, targeting is realized by specific binding to certain marker proteins on cancer cell membranes. PNIPAM is one of the most studied thermo responsive polymer. PNIPAM based hydrogels undergo reversible physical changes in response to external temperaturestimuli. This feature makes it an ideal candidate for many applications. Among the more promising application is to mimic the function of natural proteins. The interaction between synthetic polymers and proteins mainly depends on a combination of hydrophobic, electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions which can be adjusted by changes in the content of hydrophobic and/or charged monomers. In this work we describe superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles that are coated with SiO2 then further modified with a NIPAm-based copolymer. The copolymer was designed with intrinsic affinity for Hela cells. The optimization of the nanogel formulation suitable for Hela cell binding and its photothermal behavior will be described.

Engineering a thermoresponsive nanogel with a photothermal core for cancer cell specific binding

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.