Pancreatic cancer represents one of the most aggressive in nature with a miserable prognosis that warrants efficient diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Herein, a MnO2 overlaid gold nanoparticle (AuNPs) based photothermal theranostic nanoenvelope (PTTNe:MnO2@AuNPs) was fabricated to substantiate surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) guided real-time monitoring of photothermal therapy (PTT) in pancreatic cancer cells. A sharp enhancement of the fingerprint Raman signature of MnO2 at 569 cm-1 exhibited as a marker peak for the first time to elucidate the intracellular PTT event. In this strategic design, the leftover bare AuNPs after the degradation of the MnO2 layer from the nanoenvelope in the presence of intracellular H2O2 enabled real-time tracking of biomolecular changes of Raman spectral variations during PTT. Moreover, the surface of the as-synthesized nanoenvelope was functionalized with a pancreatic cancer cell targeting peptide sequence for cholecystokinin fashioned the PTTNe with admirable stability and biocompatibility. Finally, the precise cell death mechanism was explicitly assessed by SERS spectral analysis as a complementary technique. This targeted phototheranostic approach demonstrated in pancreatic cancer cells presented a therapeutically viable prototype for futuristic personalized cancer nanomedicine.
Keywords: MnO2 coated gold nanoparticle; Pancreatic cancer; SERS; photothermal therapy; theranostic nanoprobe.