Nano mesoporous silica for cancer treatment: ROS-responsive and redox-responsive carriers

Abstract

Reactive oxygen species ROS and redox agents are two features of cancer medium, which could be used through responsive drug delivery systems for cancer treatment. Furthermore, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have special characteristics to use them in ROS-responsive and redox-responsive carriers. To shed light on this issue, we propose two drug delivery systems: 1) responsive to hydrogen peroxide (a ROS component) and 2) responsive to dithiothreitol (a redox agent). The proposed carriers are composed of 4 parts: MSNs, responsive agent (selenocystine for ROS-responsive and dithiodipropionic for the redox-responsive carrier), hyaluronic acid as the coating and targeting agent, and the fourth part is the cancer drug. The result of this study showed there is more than 50% difference in drug release difference in a medium with stimuli and a medium without stimuli. Furthermore, the drug release profiles are concentration-dependent of the stimuli. These results confirm the smart behavior of the proposed carriers in different media. The results of this study pave the way for the utilization of MSNs in ROS-responsive and redox-responsive carriers.