Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Co-Delivery of Drugs and Nucleic Acids in Oncology: A Review.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles have attracted much attention in recent years as drug and gene delivery systems for biomedical applications. Among their most beneficial features for biomedicine, we can highlight their biocompatibility and their outstanding textural properties, which provide a great loading capacity for many types of cargos. In the context of cancer nanomedicine, combination therapy and gene transfection/silencing have recently been highlighted as two of its most promising fields. In this review, we aim to provide an overview of the different small molecule drug-nucleic acid co-delivery combinations that have been developed using mesoporous silica nanoparticles as carriers. By carefully selecting the chemotherapeutic drug and nucleic acid cargos to be co-delivered by mesoporous silica nanoparticles, different therapeutic goals can be achieved by overcoming resistance mechanisms, combining different cytotoxic mechanisms, or providing an additional antiangiogenic effect. The examples here presented highlight the great promise of this type of strategies for the development of future therapeutics

Overcoming the stability, toxicity, and biodegradation challenges of tumor stimuli-responsive inorganic nanoparticles for delivery of cancer therapeutics

Introduction: Stimuli-responsive nanomaterials for cancer therapy have attracted much interest recently due to their potential for improving the current standard of care. Different types of inorganic nanoparticles are widely employed for the development of these strategies, but in some cases safety concerns hinder their clinical translation. This review aims to provide an overview of the challenges that inorganic nanoparticles face regarding their stability, toxicity and biodegradability, as well as the strategies that have been proposed to overcome them. Areas covered: The available information about the in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility, as well as the biodegradability of the following nanoparticles is presented and discussed: superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, graphene and mesoporous nanoparticles made of silicon or silicon oxide. The toxicology of inorganic nanoparticles is greatly affected by many physicochemical parameters, and their surface modification emerges as the main intervention to improve their biocompatibility and tailor their performance for specific biomedical applications. Expert opinion: Even though many different studies have been performed regarding the biological behavior of inorganic nanoparticles, long-term in vivo data is still scarce, limiting our capacity to evaluate the proposed nanomaterials for clinical use. The role of biodegradability in different therapeutic contexts is also discussed

Knowledge management and innovative design: state of the art

International audienceThe objective of this article is to make a state of the art on knowledge management and its bond with the innovating designs. After having presented some general information on knowledge, its typology and its cycle of management, we will move on its patrimonial management, then we will finish on the knowledge management for the innovative design

Polymer-Grafted Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as Ultrasound-Responsive Drug Carriers

A new ultrasound-responsive system based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles was developed for biomedical applications, grafting a copolymer on their surface that acts as gatekeeper of the pores. The nanoparticles can be loaded with a cargo at low temperature (4 degrees C), taking advantage of the open conformation that the polymer presents under these conditions. Then, at 37 degrees C the copolymer collapses closing the pore entrances and allowing the nanoparticles to carry the drugs at physiological temperature without premature release, which is of great importance when dealing with cytotoxic drugs in cancer treatments. Upon ultrasound irradiation, the sensitive polymer changes its hydrophobicity and, therefore, its conformation toward coil-like opening the gates and releasing the cargo. These hybrid nanoparticles have been shown to be noncytotoxic and can be internalized into LNCaP cells retaining their ultrasound-responsive capability in the cytoplasm of the cells. Moreover, doxorubicin-loaded hybrid MSNs were incubated with LNCaP cells to show their capacity to induce cell death only when the nanoparticles had been exposed to ultrasound. This work demonstrates that our hybrid-MSNs can be triggered by remote stimuli, which is of capital importance for future applications in drug delivery and cancer therapy

Tuning mesoporous silica dissolution in physiological environments: a review

Matrix degradation has a major impact on the release kinetics of drug delivery systems. Regarding ordered mesoporous silica materials for biomedical applications, their dissolution is an important parameter that should be taken into consideration. In this paper, we review the main factors that govern the mesoporous silica dissolution in physiological environments. We also provide the necessary knowledge to researchers in the area for tuning the dissolution rate of those matrices, so the degradation could be controlled and the material behaviour optimised

Vectorization of ultrasound-responsive nanoparticles in placental mesenchymal stem cells for cancer therapy

A new platform constituted by engineered responsive nanoparticles transported by human mesenchymal stem cells is here presented as a proof of concept. Ultrasound-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles are coated with polyethylenimine to favor their effective uptake by decidua-derived mesenchymal stem cells. The responsive-release ability of the designed nanoparticles is confirmed, both in vial and in vivo. In addition, this capability is maintained inside the cells used as carriers. The migration capacity of the nanoparticle-cell platform towards mammary tumors is assessed in vitro. The efficacy of this platform for anticancer therapy is shown against mammary tumor cells by inducing the release of doxorubicin only when the cell vehicles are exposed to ultrasound