Synthesis of Theranostic Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule Targeted Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle With Gold Gatekeeper for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

In this study, we report the fabrication of epithelial cell adhesion molecule targeted 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) encapsulated PEGylated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NPs) hybridized with gold NPs (PEG-Au@Si-5-FU) as gatekeeper for theranostic applications.The prepared targeted and nontargeted formulations were evaluated in vitro in terms of their cellular internalization and toxicity. The prepared theranostic hybrid system was also implemented for computed tomography of HepG2 tumor-bearing nude mice in vivo.Fluorescence microscopy and MTT assay demonstrated that the developed epithelial cell adhesion molecule-PEG-Au@Si-5-FU had higher cytotoxicity than nontargeted PEG-Au@Si-5-FU in 2D and 3D HepG2 cell cultures. Moreover, the targeted hybrid system was preferentially accumulated in HepG2 tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.This work introduces a novel strategy for developing multimodal NPs via nanoparticulate hybrid materials.