A pH-sensitive drug delivery system based on folic acid-targeted HBP-modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with folic acid (MSN−COOH-Tet-HBP-FA) are able to mediate targeting and have a pH stimulation response character, and therefore have been successfully synthesized as vectors for antitumor drug delivery. The model drug is tetrandrine (Tet). The chemical structure and properties of these NPs were characterized through systematic characterization analyses. Their drug loading capacity was significantly improved through carboxy modification (26.86 % in max), and they exhibited pH-dependent drug release profiles("zero pre-release" within 20 h in a normal physiological environment). In vitro cytotoxicity and cell uptake of the as-synthesized NPs in Hela and A549 cells were also evaluated, and exhibited high cytotoxicity and cell-targeted uptake capacity. It was concluded that MSN−COOH-Tet-HBP-FA could be used as a promising drug delivery system for cancer therapy.