Hyaluronic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles for efficient photodynamic therapy of cancer cells

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) were coated with poly-(L-lysine) and hyaluronic acid (HA) by using the layer-by-layer method. HA is able to target cancer cells over-expressing the corresponding CD44 receptor. MSN functionalized with HA (MSN-HA) were more efficient than MSN without the targeting moiety when PDT was performed at low fluence (14 Jcm(-2)) and low dosage of MSN (20 μgmL(-1)) on HCT 116 colorectal cancer cells, known to over-express the CD44 receptor. Incubation of HCT-116 cancer cells with an excess of HA impaired the PDT effect with MSN-HA thus demonstrating that an active endocytosis mechanism was involved in the uptake of MSN-HA by these cells.