Hyaluronic acid-conjugated mesoporous silica nanoparticles: excellent colloidal dispersity in physiological fluids and targeting efficacy

Hyaluronic acid-conjugated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs-HA) have been synthesized via a facile amidation reaction. This novel strategy can efficiently solve the agglomeration problem of MSNs in physiological fluids. The cellular experiments showed that MSNs-HA is capable of selectively targeting specific cancer cells over-expressing the CD44 protein, leading to rapid and concentration-dependent uptake by the cancer cells through the receptor-mediated endocytosis mechanism. In contrast, no selective targeting of MSNs-HA can be found to the CD44 low-expressing cells, such as MCF-7 and L929 cells. The hydrophobic camptothecin (CPT) drug was encapsulated into MSNs-HA, which showed enhanced cytotoxicity to the Hela cells compared to both free CPT and CPT-loaded MSNs-HA in the presence of excess free HA.