Abstract
With increasing incidence and mortality rates, cancer remains one of the most devastating global non-communicable diseases. Restricted dosages and decreased bioavailability, often results in lower therapeutic outcomes, triggering the development of resistance to conventionally used drug/gene therapeutics. The development of novel therapeutic strategies using multimodal nanotechnology to enhance specificity, increase bioavailability and biostability of therapeutics with favorable outcomes is critical. Gated vectors that respond to endogenous or exogenous stimuli, and promote targeted tumor delivery without prematurely cargo loss are ideal. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are effective delivery systems for a variety of therapeutic agents in cancer therapy. MSNs possess a rigid framework and large surface area that can incorporate supramolecular constructs and varying metal species that allow for stimuli-responsive controlled release functions. Its high interior loading capacity can incorporate combination drug/gene therapeutic agents, conferring increased bioavailability and biostability of the therapeutic cargo. Significant advances in the engineering of MSNs structural and physiochemical characteristics have since seen the development of nanodevices with promising in vivo potential. In this review, current trends of multimodal MSNs being developed and their use in stimuli-responsive passive and active targeting in cancer therapy will be discussed, focusing on light, redox, pH, and temperature stimuli.
Highlights
With increasing incidence and mortality rates, cancer remains one of the most devastating global non-communicable diseases
Current trends of multimodal Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) being developed and their use in stimuli-responsive passive and active targeting in cancer therapy will be discussed, focusing on light, redox, pH, and temperature stimuli
MSNs can be described as having a uniqueasmesoporous structure encompassing a solid framework with a porous honeycomb-like structure, and a large active outer and inner surface area, allowing for the attachment of different functional groups for cell-specific targeting of the drug moiety
Summary
Cancer is a complex and multifactorial disease characterized by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division resulting in malignant growth or tumors that may spread systematically. Pharmaceutics 2021, 13, 71 water solubility, decreased drug stability and bioavailability, and a lack of specificity [5,6] This often results in severe side effects such as pain [7], nausea [8,9,10], diarrhea, cardiotoxicity, hair loss [11] and depression of the immune system [1]. There is an overwhelming niche for tailored delivery systems that can improve the biostability, bioavailability and cost-effectiveness of existing developed compounds and molecules [34] These delivery systems should be edited to combine several therapies for a single, multi-faceted approach that will have the potential to minimize drug resistance and cancer recurrence [35]
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