Mesoporous bioactive glass for synergistic therapy of tumor and regeneration of bone tissue

Abstract Treatment of tumorous bone defects needs complete elimination of residual cancer cells and, at the same time promotion of bone regeneration. Herein, manganese (Mn)-doped mesoporous bioactive glass-loaded with chlorin e6 (Mn-MBG/Ce6) can serve as a near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered phototherapy reagent for bone tumor treatment and bone regeneration. The Mn-MBG was synthesized by an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process. The addition of Mn to MBG imparted the controlled photothermal performance to Mn-MBG, but maintained well-ordered mesopores. After loading Ce6 into the ordered mesopore channel of 5Mn-MBG, the 5Mn-MBG/Ce6 displayed controlled NIR light-triggered Ce6 release. Furthermore, the mild hyperthermia induced by 5Mn-MBG/Ce6 facilitated the cellular uptake of Ce6, which significantly enhanced the efficiency of photodynamic therapy, and at the same time achieved a synergistic therapeutic effect in bone tumor therapy in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, even after short term of synergistic photodynamic and photothermal therapy, such 5Mn-MBG/Ce6 exhibited good biocompatibility and could help long term of bone tissue regeneration in vivo. Therefore, 5Mn-MBG/Ce6 could be used for ablating the residual tumor cells after surgery, and accelerating bone regeneration simultaneously, indicating a smart nanoplatform by combining photothermal/photodynamic therapy, nanomedicine delivery, and bone-forming bioactivity for treatment of tumorous bone defects.