Fungus-mediated biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles: potential in detection of liver cancer

Abstract

Background

Nanomaterials are considered to be the pre-eminent component of the rapidly advancing field of nanotechnology. However, developments in the biologically inspired synthesis of nanoparticles are still in their infancy and consequently attracting the attention of material scientists throughout the world. Keeping in mind the fact that microorganism-assisted synthesis of nanoparticles is a safe and economically viable prospect, in the current study we report Candida albicans-mediated biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles.

Methods and results

Transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and various spectrophotometric analyses were performed to characterize the gold nanoparticles. The morphology of the synthesized gold particles depended on the abundance of C. albicans cytosolic extract. Transmission electron microscopy, nanophox particle analysis, and atomic force microscopy revealed the size of spherical gold nanoparticles to be in the range of 20–40 nm and nonspherical gold particles were found to be 60–80 nm. We also evaluated the potential of biogenic gold nanoparticles to probe liver cancer cells by conjugating them with liver cancer cell surface-specific antibodies. The antibody-conjugated gold particles were found to bind specifically to the surface antigens of the cancer cells.

Conclusion

The antibody-conjugated gold particles synthesized in this study could successfully differentiate normal cell populations from cancerous cells.

Keywords:

• gold nanoparticles
• Candida albicans
• biomimetic synthesis
• cancer cell diagnosis
• antiliver cell antibody

Supplementary figures

Figure S1 Optical photograph depicting change in color of reaction mixture as a result of change in surface plasmon resonance upon incubation of HAuCl₄ solution (10⁻³ M) with increasing amounts of dithiothreitol. Incubation of HAuCl₄ with glutathione resulted in synthesis of gold nanoparticles assessed by measuring change in surface plasmon resonance.

Figure S2 Graph represents differential cytotoxic effect of anticancer drug as well as antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles against cancer cells as revealed by MTT assay. Plain gold particles were taken as control.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor M Saleemuddin of the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit for providing us with research facilities. We acknowledge the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for financial support to conduct this study. We are thankful to Professor Akhtar Mahmood, Central Instrumentation Facilities, Punjab University, Chandigarh, for helping us with our electron microscopy studies. We are also thankful to JN Agrewala, Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.