Multifunctional manganese-doped Prussian blue nanoparticles for two-photon photothermal therapy and magnetic resonance imaging

[Display omitted] •Design of multifunctional nanoparticles able to provide efficient photothermal effect associated with imaging is highly challenging.•New Prussian blue nanoparticles compete with conventional PTT agents in terms of their efficiency and multifunctionality.•We demonstrate that Mn2+-doped Prussian blue nanoparticles act as efficient agents for PTT under two-photon excitation.•These nanoparticles induce an almost total eradication of malignant cells (97 and 98 %) 24 h after NIR excitation.•The combination of PTT with MRI offers new perspectives for efficient cancer treatment with imaging. Here we demonstrate for the first time that Mn2+-doped Prussian blue nanoparticles of c.a. 70 nm act as effective agents for photothermal therapy under two-photon excitation with an almost total eradication of malignant cells (97 and 98%) at a concentration of 100 μg mL−1 24 h after NIR excitation. This effect combined with interesting longitudinal NMR relaxivity values offer new perspectives for effective imaging and cancer treatment.