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

Abstract

Arun Chauhan1, Swaleha Zubair2, Saba Tufail1, Asif Sherwani1, Mohammad Sajid1, Suri C Raman3, Amir Azam4, Mohammad Owais1 1Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, 2Women's College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 3Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, 4Centre of Excellence in Material Sciences, Department of Applied Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 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