In the present study, a new sandwich-like nanocomposite as a multifunctional smart nanocarrier for
curcumin (Cur) targeted delivery and cell imaging was prepared by immobilization of
gold nanoparticles on
folic acid-modified dendritic mesoporous
silica-coated reduced
graphene oxide nanosheets (AuNPs@GFMS). The physical and chemical properties of the nanocomposite were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The nanocarrier exhibits a number of interesting properties, including good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and suitable surface area, which results in high
drug loading capacity. In addition, this new drug delivery system showed sustained-release and pH-responsive properties. The in vitro cytotoxicity test of the free
curcumin, free nanocarrier (AuNPs@GFMS),
curcumin-loaded
folate-conjugated nanocarriers (Cur-AuNPs@GFMS), and
curcumin-loaded nanocarriers without
folate-conjugation (Cur-AuNPs@
GAMS) against two human
cancer cell lines, including MCF-7 (human
breast carcinoma cell lines) and A549 (human lung
carcinoma cell lines) demonstrated that the therapeutic efficacy of Cur-AuNPs@GFMS is significantly greater than those of other compounds because the cancerous cells can uptake the
folate-conjugated
drug nanocarrier via a receptor-mediated mechanism. Fluorescence microscopic images and different staining techniques were also used to visualize the cellular uptake, anticancer activity, specific targeting ability, and photothermal potency of Cur-AuNPs@GFMS toward the MCF-7
cancer cells. The obtained results proved that the proposed system, Cur-AuNPs@GFMS, can be used as a potent
anticancer agent in targeted
cancer therapies for
breast cancer.