Stimuli-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles for cancer therapy: A review

The application of nanocarriers as selective drug delivery platforms, as imaging or as diagnostic agents has been evaluated in several studies in the area of biomedicine, namely for cancer therapy. Such systems have the potential to perform a controlled and site-specific delivery of therapeutic agents leading to a reduction of side effects and, ultimately, to an improved therapeutic outcome. Among the different nanocarriers developed so far, mesoporous silica nanoparticles have attracted the attention of the scientific community for being applied as drug delivery systems that are capable of controlling, both in space and time, the drug release. In this review, the modifications performed, so far, on mesoporous silica nanoparticles to imprint them a stimulus responsive behavior (namely, pH, redox potential, adenosine triphosphate, enzyme or temperature) in order to allow their application in cancer therapy are highlighted. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.