Fe3O4@mSiO2-FA-CuS-PEG nanocomposites for magnetic resonance imaging and targeted chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy of cancer cells

In this work, a new multifunctional nanoplatform (Fe3O4@mSiO(2)-FA-CuS-PEG nanocomposite) for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and targeted chemo-photothermal therapy, was firstly fabricated on the basis of magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (Fe3O4@mSiO(2)), on which folic acid (FA) was grafted as the targeting reagent, CuS nanocrystals were attached as the photothermal agent, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was coupled to improve biocompatibility. The characterization results demonstrated that the fabricated Fe3O4@mSiO(2)-FA-CuS-PEG nanocomposites not only showed strong magnetism and excellent MRI performance, but also had a high doxorubicin (DOX, an anticancer drug) loading capacity (22.1%). The loaded DOX can be sustainably released, which was apt to be controlled by pH adjustment and near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. More importantly, targeted delivery of the DOX-loaded Fe3O4@mSiO(2)-FA-CuS-PEG nanocomposites could be accomplished in HeLa cells via the receptor-mediated endocytosis pathway, and this exhibited synergistic effect of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy against HeLa cells under irradiation with a 915 nm laser. Therefore, the fabricated multifunctional Fe3O4@mSiO(2)-FA-CuS-PEG nanocomposite has a great potential in image-guided therapy of cancers.