Therapeutic effect of doxorubicin-chlorin e6-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles combined with ultrasound on triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Sonodynamic Therapy (SDT) has good targeting and non-invasive advan-tages in solid cancers, but its antitumor effect is not sufficient to replace traditional treat-ments. Some studies that combined SDT with chemotherapy or nanoparticles have managed to enhance its efficiency and overcome the side effects of chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: In this study, we synthesized and characterized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN-DOX-Ce6) loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) and sonosensitizer, chlorin e6 (Ce6). Then, we conducted in vitro and in vivo experiments to explore the antitumor effect of MSN-DOX-Ce6 under ultrasound (US) treatment. Results: The characterization tests showed that the nanoparticles are uniformly sized spheres with mesoporous structure, resulting in a high drug-loading efficiency. In the in vitro experiments, MSN-DOX-Ce6 could effectively inhibit cell proliferation under US but not more than other treatment groups. However, the in vivo studies showed that MSN-DOX-Ce6+US has better antitumor effect than DOX+Ce6+US or DOX alone on xenograft tumor-bearing mice. Conclusion: In summary, MSNs showed a great potential for DOX and Ce6 delivery. We concluded that under US, MSN-DOX-Ce6 nanocomposites increase the antitumor effect of DOX and SDT and thereby are a potential treatment for solid tumors.