Fabrication of ultrasmall WS2 quantum dots-coated periodic mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles for intracellular drug delivery and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy

OncoTargets and Therapy Dovepress open access to scientific and medical research Original Research OncoTargets and Therapy downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 86.101.50.130 on 07-Jul-2020 For personal use only. Open Access Full Text Article Fabrication of ultrasmall WS2 quantum dots-coated periodic mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles for intracellular drug delivery and synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy This article was published in the following Dove Press journal: OncoTargets and Therapy Wenyun Liao 1 Li Zhang 1 Yunhua Zhong 2 Yuan Shen 1 Changlin Li 1 Na An 1 Department of Emergency, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Geriatrics, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, People’s Republic of China 1 Introduction: The consolidation of different therapies into a single nanoplatform has shown great promise for synergistic tumor treatment. In this study, a multifunctional platform by WS2 quantum dots (WQDs)-coated doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs-DOX@WQDs) nanoparticles were fabricated for the first time, and which exhibits good potential for synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy. Materials and methods: The structure, light-mediated drug release behavior, photothermal effect, and synergistic therapeutic efficiency of PMOs-DOX@WQDs to HCT-116 colon cancer cells were investigated. The thioether-bridged PMOs exhibit a high DOX loading capacity of 66.7 µg mg−1. The gating of the PMOs not only improve the drug loading capacity but also introduce the dual-stimuli-responsive performance. Furthermore, the as-synthesized PMOs-DOX@WQDs nanoparticles can efficiently generate heat to the hyperthermia temperature with near infrared laser irradiation. Results: It was confirmed that PMOs-DOX@WQDs exhibit remarkable photothermal effect and light-triggered faster release of DOX. More importantly, it was reasonable to attribute the efficient anti-tumor efficiency of PMOs-DOX@WQDs. Conclusion: The in vitro experimental results confirm that the fabricated nanocarrier exhibits a significant synergistic effect, resulting in a higher efficacy to kill cancer cells. Therefore, the WQD-coated PMOs present promising applications in cancer therapy. Keywords: periodic mesoporous organosilica, WS2 quantum dots, chemo-photothermal therapy, drug delivery Introduction Correspondence: Li Zhang Department of Emergency, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming University of Science and Technology, No. 727 South Jingming Rd., Chenggong District, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, People’s Republic of China Tel/fax +86 871 6363 9921 Email 1949 submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com OncoTargets and Therapy 2018:11 1949–1960 Dovepress © 2018 Liao et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php). http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S160748 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Cancer is ranked among one of the most severe global health issues,1 and the global anticancer challenge will be more severe in the next 2 decades.2 It is urgent to develop new method to defeat this very stubborn disease. Recently, the approach of nanomedicine has provided an outstanding potential to revolutionize tumor treatments.3–5 Various drug delivery systems have been developed for improvement of therapeutic efficacy and cancer treatment. With the development of material science, pharmaceutical science, and biomedical science, various materials, including polymers, lipids, and inorganic materials have been developed and served as drug carriers to control the release behavior of drugs.6 Periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs), as one of representative candidate carriers, has attracted great attention in nanomedicine owing to their biocompatibility, high drug-loading capacity, and easily controlled drug release.7–10 Similar to mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), PMOs nanoparticles, Dovepress OncoTargets and Therapy downloaded from https://www.dovepress.com/ by 86.101.50.130 on 07-Jul-2020 For personal use only. Liao et al which have tunable mesopores that could be utilized for many applications are obtained by the sol–gel process from organobridged alkoxysilanes;11–14 but unlike MSN, the diversity in chemical nature of the pore walls of such nanomaterials is theoretically unlimited.15 Up to now, various types of PMOsbased stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems have been developed and number of capping agents, such as inorganic nanoparticles, polymers, supramolecular assembles, and biomolecules were used as smart caps on PMOs to control drug release in response to endogenous stimuli.16–18 Pistone et al prepared the polymer-gated drug delivery systems for smart drug release.19 Also, Yao et al reported the construction of graphene quantum dots-capped magnetic MSN as a multifunctional platform for synergistic therapy with controlled drug release, magnetic hyperthermia, and photothermal therapy (PTT).20 Although the controlled drug delivery system could enhance therapeutic efficiency compared with systemic administration,21 chemotherapy still cannot gain the vintage therapeutic efficacy because the unavoidable multidrug resistance of cancer cells is an inevitable problem.22–26 It is generally acknowledged that the purpose of combining two or more therapeutic methodologies is to promote treatment efficacy by integrating the chemotherapy with other therapeutic approaches, such as magnetic hyperthermia, PTT, gene therapy, and radiotherapy.27–31 Among them, PTT is a promising treatment since it can be controlled spatiotemporally, thus avoiding damage to surrounding healthy tissues.32 PTT employs photo-absorbing agents, such as gold nanomaterials, organic near-infrared (NIR) dyes, copper chalcogenides, and carbon nanomaterials, to convert optical energy into heat to kill cancer cells.33–35 Many of recent studies have focused on the combination of PTT and chemotherapy. The integration of PTT and chemotherapy can improve the efficacy of chemotherapeutics and provide an enhanced tailored pharmacological treatment.36 Therefore, it can be anticipated that the PMOs functionalized with photothermal agents has the potential for controlled drug release, PTT effect, and the improvement of the anticancer performance. To date, several NIR (...truncated)