Hyaluronic Acid-Functionalized Hollow Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as pH-Sensitive Nanocarriers for Cancer Chemo-Photodynamic Therapy

• Published in: Langmuir Vol. 37; no. 8; pp. 2619 - 2628
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yimin, Chang, Cong, Liu, Zuhao, Zhao, Qiuling, Xu, Qingni, Li, Chaohua, Chen, Yuqi, Zhang, Yueli, Lu, Bo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 02.03.2021
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03250

Hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) served as nanocarriers for transporting doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) and indocyanine green (ICG) and were incorporated into a pH-sensitive targeted drug delivery system (DDS). Boronate ester bonds were employed to link HMSNs and dopamine-modified hyaluronic acid (DA-HA), which acted as both the “gatekeeper” and targeting agents (HMSNs-B-HA). Well-dispersed HMSNs-B-HA with a diameter of about 170 nm was successfully constructed. The conclusion was drawn from the in vitro drug release experiment that ICG and DOX (ID) co-loaded nanoparticles (ID@HMSNs-B-HA) with high drug loading efficiency could sustain drug release under acidic conditions. More importantly, in vitro cell experiments perfectly showed that ID@HMSNs-B-HA could well inhibit murine mammary carcinoma (4T1) cells via chemotherapy combined with photodynamic therapy and accurately target 4 T1 cells. In summary, all test results sufficiently demonstrated that the prepared ID@HMSNs-B-HA was a promising nano-DDS for cancer photodynamic combined with chemotherapy.