Imaging Intracellular Drug/siRNA Co‐Delivery by Self‐Assembly Cross‐Linked Polyethylenimine with Fluorescent Core‐Shell Silica Nanoparticles

Abstract

Multifunctional theranostic nanomaterial represents one type of emerging agent with the potential to offer both sensitive diagnosis and effective therapy. Herein, we report a novel drug/siRNA co‐delivery nanocarrier, which is based on fluorescent mesoporous core‐shell silica nanoparticles coated by cross‐linked polyethylenimine. The fluorescent mesoporous core‐shell silica nanoparticles can provide numerous pores for drug loading and negative charged surface to assemble cross‐linked polyethylenimine via electrostatic interaction. Disulfide cross‐linked polyethylenimine can be absorbed on the surface of silica nanoparticles which provide the feasibility to bind with negatively charged siRNA and release drug “on‐demand”. In addition, the hybrid nanoparticles can be easily internalized into cells to realize drug/siRNA co‐delivery and therapeutic effect imaging. This work would stimulate interest in the use of self‐assembled cross‐linked polyethylenimine with fluorescent mesoporous core‐shell silica nanoparticles to construct multifunctional nanocomposites for tumor therapy.