Dual-responsive and controlled-release paclitaxel-loaded mesoporous silicon nanoparticles with cell membrane coating for homologous targeted therapy of tongue squamous cell carcinoma

The application of paclitaxel (PTX) for chemotherapy of tongue squamous cell carcinoma shows unavoidable damage to normal tissue, thus need to develop drug delivery and tumor-targeting nanomaterials. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) exhibit advantages including a convenient synthesis process, adjustable structure, high drug loading efficiency and low cytotoxicity. In this study, we synthesized PTX-loaded calcium carbonate-coated degradable disulfide-doped MSNs to construct a pH/redox dual-responsive controlled-release nanosystem. A high PTX loading rate of 9.68 ± 0.21% was measured with significantly accelerated release at low pH and in the presence of GSH. Moreover, surface decoration of the cell membrane was conducted to realize homologous targeted killing of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells (PTX/ssMSN@CaCO3@TC), as confirmed by dynamic light scattering and gel electrophoresis analyses. Our nanocomposite material could be effectively taken up by Tca8113 cells but not by L929 and HeLa cells. Moreover, excellent tumor killing performance was measured both in vitro and in vivo. A total of 94.00 ± 1.66% and 98.12 ± 0.28% of Tca8113 cells were killed after culturing for 1 day and 3 days, respectively. This study developed a novel nanomaterial with the abilities of homologous targeting and dual-responsive release of PTX in tumor cells, exhibiting great value for the design of nanotargeting tumor killing drugs.