The anticancer activity of chloroquine-gold nanoparticles against MCF-7 breast cancer cells

► Potential use of well known antimalarial drug chloroquine in cancer therapy. ► Designing of chloroquine-gold nanoparticle (GNP-Chl) nanoconjugates for cancer therapeutics. ► The release of chloroquine from GNP-Chl at a lower pH suggests lysosomal/endosomal uptake of chloroquine. ► GNP-Chl exhibited concentration-dependent cytotoxicity in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. ► Autophagy is likely the cause of GNP-Chl-induced necrotic cell death.