Cancer therapy improvement with mesoporous silica nanoparticles combining photodynamic and photothermal therapy

In this work, we develop novel mesoporous silica composite nanoparticles (hm-SiO2(AlC4Pc)@Pd) for the co-delivery of photosensitizer (PS) tetra-substituted carboxyl aluminum phthalocyanine (AlC4Pc) and small Pd nanosheets as a potential dual carrier system to combine photodynamic therapy (PDT) with photothermal therapy (PTT). In the nanocomposite, PS AlC4Pc was covalently conjugated to a mesoporous silica network, and small Pd nanosheets were coated onto the surface of mesoporous silica by both coordination and electrostatic interaction. Since small Pd nanosheets and AlC4Pc display matched maximum absorptions in the 600-800 nm near-infrared (NIR) region, the fabricated hm-SiO2(AlC4Pc)@Pd nanocomposites can generate both singlet oxygen and heat upon 660 nm single continuous wavelength (CW) laser irradiation. In vitro results indicated that the cell-killing efficacy by simultaneous PDT/PTT treatment using hm-SiO2(AlC4Pc)@Pd was higher than PDT or PTT treatment alone after exposure to a 660 nm CW-NIR laser.