An indicator-guided photo-controlled drug delivery system based on mesoporous silica/gold nanocomposites

• Published in: Nano research Vol. 8; no. 6; pp. 1893 - 1905
• Main Authors: Luo, Guofeng, Chen, Weihai, Jia, Huizhen, Sun, Yunxia, Cheng, Han, Zhuo, Renxi, Zhang, Xianzheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Carriers; Carriers, Drug; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Drug delivery systems; Drugs; Gold; Indicators; Localization; Materials Science; MMP-2; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Peptides; Reagents; Research Article; Tumors; 介孔二氧化硅; 基质金属蛋白酶; 指示器; 纳米复合材料; 药物释放; 输送系统; 金纳米粒子; China; drug delivery; MSN/Au nanocomposite; MMP-2 sensitive; tumor therapy; photo-controlled
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-014-0698-2

A mesoporous silica/gold （MSN/Au） nanocomposite was designed for photo- controlled drug delivery targeted specifically at tumor cells. The MSN/Au nanocomposite was composed of MSN-based drug carriers and gold nanoparticle （AuNP）-based indicators. While the MSN-based drug carrier was a mesoporous silica nanoparticle immobilized with photo-switchable azobenzene （Azo） moieties, the AuNP-based indicator was a fluorescence-quenched AuNP modified with a matrix metalloproteinase （MMP） substrate and poly（ethylene glycol）. The two kinds of nanoparticles were connected by an α,β cyclodextrin （α,β CD） dimer ＂bridge.＂ In vitro studies demonstrated that the nanocomposite specifically interacted with tumor sites overexpressing MMP-2, which enabled guidance of the subsequent UV light irradiation for releasing entrapped drugs. Through integration of the AuNP-based indicator and the MSN-based drug carrier, the MSN/Au nanocomposite could precisely localize the released drug to tumor sites, thereby significantly improving therapeutic efficacy.