Generic synthesis of small-sized hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles for oxygen-independent Xray-activated synergistic therapy

by W. Fan, N. Lu, Z. Shen, W. Tang, B. Shen, (…), N.M. Khashab, M.A. Aronova, G. Lu, X. Chen
Year: 2019

Bibliography

W. Fan, N. Lu, Z. Shen, W. Tang, B. Shen, (…), N.M. Khashab, M.A. Aronova, G. Lu, X. Chen. Generic synthesis of small-sized hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles for oxygen-independent Xray-activated synergistic therapy. Nature Communications, Volume 10, Article number: 1241, 2019

Abstract

​The success of radiotherapy relies on tumor-specific delivery of radiosensitizers to attenuate hypoxia resistance. Here we report an ammonia-assisted hot water etching strategy for the generic synthesis of a library of small-sized (sub-50 nm) hollow mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (HMONs) with mono, double, triple, and even quadruple framework hybridization of diverse organic moieties by changing only the introduced bissilylated organosilica precursors. The biodegradable thioether-hybridized HMONs are chosen for efficient co-delivery of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)5). Distinct from conventional RT, radiodynamic therapy (RDT) is developed by taking advantage of X-ray-activated peroxy bond cleavage within TBHP to generate •OH, which can further attack Fe(CO)5 to release CO molecules for gas therapy. Detailed in vitro and in vivo studies reveal the X-ray-activated cascaded release of •OH and CO molecules from TBHP/Fe(CO)5 co-loaded PEGylated HMONs without reliance on oxygen, which brings about remarkable destructive effects against both normoxic and hypoxic cancers.

Keywords

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle Carbonyl Iron Drug Delivery System Synergistic Therapy