This work reports the synthesis and the characterization of water-soluble and biocompatible photosensitizer (PS)-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles composed of a cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) magnetic core coated with a biocompatible hematoporphyrin (HP) shell. The photo-functional cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (CoFe2O4@HP) were uniform in size, stable against PS leaching, and highly efficient in the photo-generation of cytotoxic singlet oxygen under visible light. With the CoFe2O4@HP, we acquired in vitro MR images of cancer cells (PC-3) and confirmed good biocompatibility of the CoFe2O4@HP in both normal and cancer cells. In addition, we confirmed the potential of the CoFe2O4@HP as an agent for photodynamic therapy (PDT) applications. The photodynamic anticancer activities in 25, 50, and 100 μg/mL of CoFe2O4@HP were measured and found to exceed 99% (99.0, 99.4, and 99.5%) (p < 0.002). The photodynamic anticancer activity was 81.8% (p < 0.003). From these results, we suggest that our CoFe2O4@HP can be used safely as a type of photodynamic cancer therapy with potential as a therapeutic agent having good biocompatibility. Moreover, these photo-functional magnetic nanoparticles are highly promising for applications in versatile imaging diagnosis and as a therapy tool in biomedical engineering.

Nanomedicine, which involves the use of magnetic nanoparticles such as Fe3O4, has provided novel technical solutions for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Most studies in nanomedicine have focused on the use of nanoparticles with magnetic resonance imaging and hyperthermia. However, to achieve optimum anticancer effects, it is important to understand the physicochemical properties of magnetic nanoparticles and their interactions with biological entities. In this study, we synthesized Fe3O4particles of various sizes and conjugated them with hematoporphyrin (HP) molecules by using a simple surface-modification method. HP molecules were covalently bound to the surface of Fe3O4particles by a wet chemical process, resulting in Fe3O4@HPs particles that were uniform in size, were nontoxic, and exhibited strong anticancer effects on human prostate cancer (PC-3) and breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines. The Fe3O4@HPs particles showed remarkable and efficient photodynamic anticancer activity, depending on their particle size. These results indicate that all size of Fe3O4@HPs particles can be useful for photodynamic anticancer therapy, although the smaller size is better than the larger size and further studies will be needed to confirm the potential for clinical anticancer treatment.