Folate-Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as a Liver Tumor-Targeted Drug Delivery System to Improve the Antitumor Effect of Paclitaxel

Abstract

The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize an innovative hepatocellular carcinoma-targeted therapeutic drug delivery system based on folate-PEG-mesoporous silica nanoparticles (FA-PEG-MSNs) loaded with paclitaxel (PTX). In vitro cell experiments and an in vivo antitumor efficacy study demonstrated that FA-PEG-MSNs-PTX produced significantly higher tumor inhibition compared with pure PTX and mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with paclitaxel (MSNs-PTX). The biodistribution investigation of PTX in nude mice revealed that the FA-PEG-MSNs-PTX could accumulate in tumors. Folic acid functionalized MSNs resulted in a good targeting effect, confirming that FA-PEG-MSNs-PTX is a promising tumor-targeted drug delivery system for liver cancer chemotherapy.