Hyaluronic acid coated hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles for reduction-triggered drug release

In this work, the reduction-responsive hyaluronic acid (HA) coated hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) were developed for the targeted tumour therapy. First, the anticancer drug doxorubicin was retained inside the central hollow cavities of the HMSNs with high loading efficiency. Meanwhile, the adamantane group was anchored on the surface of the HMSNs using the disulphide bond as the reduction-cleavable linkage. Subsequently, the -cyclodextrin (-CD) decorated HA was immobilised on the surface of HMSNs by the strong -CD/adamantane host-guest interactions. Specifically, the -CD acted as the pore caps to block the loaded drug inside, while HA served as the targeting ligand for the effective cancer therapy. Under the intracellular reductive environment, the nanocomposites displayed reduction-triggered drug release manner. Confocal microscopy observations confirmed the nanocomposites were easily internalised by HeLa cancer cells and released the loaded drug inside. In addition, the cytotoxicity study evidenced that HA decorated nanocomposites exhibited improved biocompatibility and antitumour activity as compared to that without HA modification. Thus, the reduction-responsive nanocomposites could be promising as a drug delivery platform toward the cancer therapy.