Cisplatin-functionalized silica nanoparticles for cancer chemotherapy

Cisplatin is used to treat a variety of tumors, but dose-limiting toxicities or intrinsic and acquired resistance limit its application in many types of cancer including breast. Cisplatin was attached to silica nanoparticles using aminopropyltriethoxy silane as a linker molecule and characterized in terms of size, shape, as well as the dissolution of cisplatin from the silica surface. The primary particle diameter of the as received silica nanoparticles ranged from 20 to 90 nm. The results show that adverse effects on cell function, as evidenced by reduced metabolic activity measured by the MTT assay and increased membrane permeability observed using the live/dead stain, can be correlated with surface area of the silica. Cisplatin-functionalized silica nanoparticles with the highest surface area incited the greatest response, which was almost equivalent to that induced by free cisplatin. Moreover, if verified by further studies, would indicate that cisplatin was attached to silica nanoparticles might prove to be useful in site-specific drug delivery.