Biodegradable Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica (BPMO) Loaded with Daunorubicin: A Promising Nanoparticle-Based Anticancer Drug

Biodegradable periodic mesoporous organosilica (BPMO) nanoparticles have emerged as a promising type of nanocarrier for drug delivery, given the biodegradable feature is advantageous for clinical translation. In this paper, we report synthesis and characterization of daunorubicin (DNR) loaded BPMO. DNR was loaded onto rhodamine B-labeled BPMO that contain tetrasulfide bonds. Tumor spheroids and chicken egg tumor models were used to characterize the activity in biological settings. In the first experiment we examined the uptake of BPMO into tumor spheroids prepared from ovarian cancer cells. BPMO were efficiently taken up into tumor spheroids and inhibited their growth. In the chicken egg tumor model, intravenous injection of DNR-loaded BPMO led to the elimination of ovarian tumor. Lack of adverse effect on organs such as lung appears to be due to excellent tumor accumulation of BPMO. Thus, DNR-loaded BPMO represents a promising nanodrug compared with free DNR currently used in cancer therapy. OK