Mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a versatile nanocarrier for cancer treatment: A review

Abstract

Abstract Curing cancer has drastically improved in recent decades, but it is essential to find more effective and specific treatments. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can cause serious side effects and tumor resection surgery may not always be possible. In order to prevail these problems, it is required to find novel therapies to reduce side effects. Application of drug delivery nanovehicles is a promising strategy. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs), amongst various vehicles, have gained tremendous attentions owing to their excellent characteristics including ease of surface modification, improved biocompatibility, chemical and thermal stability, tunable pore diameters and great surface areas. MSNPs possess ordered structure which is very appropriate for packing high amount of drug moieties. Moreover, MSNPs can be tailored by several stimuli sensitive gatekeepers for releasing their cargos. Drug delivery from MSNPs can be controlled by passive targeting of cancer tissues through enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect or by active targeting with surface modification of MSNPs using various ligands. This review article outlines the MSNPs synthesis, focuses on the recent progression on the use of MSNPs for stimuli responsive and targeted drug delivery for cancer treatment, and discusses the endosomal escape of MSNPs. Although MSNPs are known for being versatile tools for safer and more efficient cancer treatment, more translational research is needed to study their multifunctional ability in clinical trials.