ABSTRACT
The development of theranostic mesoporous hollow silica nanospheres having therapeutic and diagnostic functions has been achieved. The exterior surface of the hollow mesoporous silica nanosphere was selectively acid functionalized and utilised to conjugate the anticancer drug cisplatin, the marker molecule folic acid (FA), and rhodamine isothiocyanate (RITC), whereas the interior space was utilised to encapsulate superparamagnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles as well as the hydrophobic anticancer drug pemetrexed. The hydrodynamic size of the synthesized multidrug loaded hollow particles is 130 nm in physiological pH and it is consistent over a long period. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on fluorescent magnetic hollow spheres loaded with multiple therapeutic cargoes as well as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent. The as prepared hollow spheres are biocompatible. The internalization efficiency of the drug loaded particle has been evaluated on folate receptor overexpressed (FR+ve) HeLa, FR-ve HaCat and 3T3 cells. These drug loaded nanospheres exhibit enhanced cytotoxicity as compared to individual drugs. Such a strategy in the simultaneous administration of pemetrexed and platin drugs may open up opportunities for the treatment of lung cancer at its early stage.
