A Review of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle Delivery Systems in Chemo-Based Combination Cancer Therapies

Abstract

Chemotherapy is an important anti-tumor treatment in clinic to date, however, the effectiveness of traditional chemotherapy is limited by its poor selectivity, high systemic toxicity, and multidrug resistance. In recent years, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have become exciting drug delivery systems (DDS) due to their unique advantages, such as easy large-scale production, adjustable uniform pore size, large surface area and pore volumes. While mesoporous silica-based DDS can improve chemotherapy to a certain extent, when used in combination with other cancer therapies MSN based chemotherapy exhibits a synergistic effect, greatly improving therapeutic outcomes. In this review, we discuss the applications of MSN DDS for a diverse range of chemotherapeutic combination anti-tumor therapies, including phototherapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy and other less common modalities. Furthermore, we focus on the characteristics of each nanomaterial and the synergistic advantages of the combination therapies. Lastly, we examine the challenges and future prospects of MSN based chemotherapeutic combination therapies.

Investigation of Nano-Bio Interactions within a Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment for the Advancement of Nanomedicine in Cancer Treatment

“…However, because of the invasive metastatic nature of pancreatic cancer, 80% of patients are not eligible for surgery, and now immunotherapy has emerged as an effective modality to treat such patients [2,6]. On the other hand, one of the major issues in radiotherapy (RT) in treating pancreatic cancer is the close proximity of adjacent organs at risk, resulting in treatment doses being limited by significant tissues' toxicities, preventing the dose escalation needed for local control [7,8]. With chemotherapy, the presence of the tumor microenvironment (TME), including stroma cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM), prevents propagation of chemotherapeutic drugs denying the delivery of the necessary doses.…”

“…Nanotechnology has demonstrated a remarkable capability to overcome these challenges [8][9][10][11][12]. For instance, nanoparticles (NPs) have shown promising results as radiosensitizer agents in radiotherapy and as vectors for targeted-drug delivery in chemotherapy [6][7][8]. Understanding of the TME and its interactions with NPs is critical in reaping the benefits of nanotechnology, particularly in pancreatic cancer where tumor stroma acts as a barrier.…”

One Pot Doxorubicin Partitioning and Encapsulation on Silica Nanoparticle, Applying Aqueous Two Phase System for Preparation of pH-Responsive Nanocarriers

“…Targeted nano-drug delivery systems with small sizes (10 to 100 nm) enhance permeation through the newborn blood vessels of tumor tissues with slower clearance due to the lack of lymph 12 . These drug nanocarriers including micelles 13,14 , polymersomes 15 , liposomes 16 , dendrimers 17 , carbon nanotubes 18 , magnetic nanoparticles 19 and silica nanoparticles 20,21 are of high importance because of their higher permeability, detection of target cells, accumulation at cancer sites, less side effects, and more efficient treatment 4,5,22 .…”

Nanoparticle-mediated synergistic chemoimmunotherapy for tailoring cancer therapy: recent advances and perspectives

“…Cationic lipids and polymers and hybrid NPs have been widely used as the common choice's carriers over the recent decade [ 127 – 129 ]. Metallic or inorganic NPs such as MSN [ 127 , 128 ], graphene oxide [ 130 ], and black phosphorus [ 131 ], indicate promising roles including the latest immunogenicity, feasible potential in functionalization and synergized delivery with photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) in CIT [ 132 , 133 ]. Nanogel with the ability to change the core and shell structures leads to responsive functional performance for image cellular tracking and sustained delivery in CIT design [ 134 – 136 ].…”