OICC Press Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry 2193-8865 12 4 (August 2022) 2021 10 04 Cytotoxicity of aptamer-conjugated chitosan encapsulated mycogenic gold nanoparticles in human lung cancer cells 10.1007/s40097-021-00437-2 EN Xiaowen Hu Department of Bio-Health Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 200-701, KR Kandasamy Saravanakumar Department of Bio-Health Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 200-701, KR Anbazhagan Sathiyaseelan Department of Bio-Health Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 200-701, KR Vinothkumar Rajamanickam Key Laboratory of Imaging Diagnosis and Minimally Invasive Intervention Research, School of Medicine, Lishui Central Hospital, Lishui Hospital of Zhejiang University, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui, 323000, CN Myeong-Hyeon Wang Department of Bio-Health Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 200-701, KR Journal Article 2021 10 04 Abstract The present work investigated the cytotoxicity of aptamer (Apt)-conjugated chitosan (CST) encapsulated mycogenic ( Talaromyces purpureogenus (Tp)) gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in human lung cancer cell line. A total of three steps were involved in the fabrication of Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs: (i) mycogenic synthesis of Tp-AuNPs using mycelial extract of T. purpureogenus , (ii) encapsulation of the chitosan on Tp-AuNPs (CST-Tp-AuNPs), and (iii) conjugation of Apt in CST-Tp-AuNPs to form final material of Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs. The nanoparticles Tp-AuNPs and Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs were found to be hexagonal shaped with the size of 37.06 ± 6.70 nm and 62.05 ± 15.22 nm, respectively, observed by TEM analysis. But the DLS analysis showed the hydrodynamic size of Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs was 91.67 ± 2.15 nm with a zeta potential of 47.31 ± 0.63 mV while Tp-AuNPs exhibited the hydrodynamic size of 56.13 ± 1.65 nm with a zeta potential of − 58.83 ± 1.64 mV. The size differences in the TEM and DLS analysis are attributed to the hydrodynamic nature of nanoparticles. The FTIR analysis demonstrated the capping of the mycelial extract on the surface of Tp-AuNPs and Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs. The Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs did not show cytotoxicity to human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293) while it showed ~ 60% of cell death in human lung cancer cells (A549). The annexin V FITC and PI staining results revealed that Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs induced higher cell death (~ 8.60%) in A549 cells than Tp-AuNPs and CST-Tp-AuNPs. The Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs triggered cytotoxicity in A549 cells through M1 phase cell cycle arrest and regulating the apoptosis-related protein (Bcl-2 and Bax) expressions. These results demonstrated the effective cytotoxic activity of Apt-CST-Tp-AuNPs in A549 cells. Graphic abstract