A Versatile Carbonic Anhydrase IX Targeting Ligand-Functionalized Porous Silicon Nanoplatform for Dual Hypoxia Cancer Therapy and Imaging

Hypoxia occurs in most solid tumors, and it has been shown to be an independent prognostic indicator of a poor clinical outcome for patients with various cancers. Therefore, constructing a nanosystem specifically targeting cancer cells under hypoxia conditions is a promising approach for cancer therapy. Herein, we develop a porous silicon (PSi)-based nanosystem for targeted cancer therapy. VD11-4-2, a novel inhibitor for carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX), is anchored on PSi particles (VD-PSi). As CA IX is mainly expressed on the cancer cell membrane under hypoxia condition, this nanocomplex inherits a strong affinity toward hypoxic human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells; thus, a better killing efficiency for the hypoxia-induced drug resistance cancer cell is observed. Furthermore, the release of doxorubicin (DOX) from VD-PSi showed pH dependence, which is possibly due to the hydrogen-bonding interaction between DOX and VD11-4-2. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer effect between DOX and VD11-4-2 is observed and applied for monitoring the DOX release intracellularly. Protein inhibition and binding assays showed that VD-PSi binds and inhibits CA IX. Overall, we developed a novel nanosystem inheriting several advantageous properties, which has great potential for targeted treatment of cancer cells under hypoxic conditions.