An Intelligent Responsive Macrophage Cell Membrane Camouflaged Mesoporous Silicon Nanorods Drug Delivery System for Precise Targeted Therapy Of Tumor

Abstract

Macrophage cell membrane camouflaged nanocarriers can effectively reduce immune clearance and target the tumor actively. In this study, a macrophage cell membrane camouflaged mesoporous silica nanorods (MSNRs) based anti-tumor drugcarrier equipped with a cationic polymer layer is developed. As a drugcarrier, MSNRs are loaded with the thermosensitive phase change material L-menthol (LM), the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX) and the fluorescent molecule indocyanine green (ICG). The rod-like shape of MSNRs is shown to improve the penetration of the drugcarrier to the tumor. In the weakly acidic tumor microenvironment, the cationic polymer presents a proton sponge effect to trigger macrophage cell membrane coating detachment, thus promoting tumor cell uptake. Following nanocarrier uptake, ICG is heated by near-infrared (NIR) irradiation to make LM undergo a phase transition to release DOX and generate a synergistic effect of thermochemotherapy which kills tumor cells and inhibits tumor growth together with reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by ICG. Overall, this nanohybrid drug delivery system demonstrats an intelligent cascade response effect and achieves tissue–cell specific targeting and improves drug release accuracy, thus proving to be an effective cancer therapy.