Uniform hollow mesoporous silica nanocages for drug delivery in vitro and in vivo for liver cancer therapy

In this article, we report the fabrication of monodisperse hollow mesoporous silica (HMS) nanocages with uniform size possessing a hollow cubic core and mesoporous shell with penetrating pore channels based on a template-coating-etching process. It is worthwhile noting the obtained HMS nanocages with cubic void space and highly porous shell endow the structures with much higher storage capacity and sustained release of anticancer drugs. More importantly, the therapeutic efficacy of doxorubicin-loaded HMS nanocages was evaluated in vitro and in vivo for liver cancer therapy. The results show that the doxorubicin-loaded HMS nanocages have good cell uptake and can induce efficient cell death in vitro. Taken together, this study demonstrates that the biocompatible HMS nanocages can effectively deliver drugs to the tumors and suppress tumor growth compared to free doxorubicin in vivo. Additionally, the synthetic strategy has also extended to fabrication of the uniform and monodisperse HMS nanocapsules with spherical shape.