Fluorescent silica nanoparticles have been extensively utilised in a broad range of biological applications and are facilitated by their predictable, well-understood, flexible chemistry and apparent biocompatibility. The ability to couple various siloxane precursors with fluorescent dyes and to be subsequently incorporated into silica nanoparticles has made it possible to engineer these fluorophores-doped nanomaterials to specific optical requirements in biological experimentation. Consequently, this class of nanomaterial has been used in applications across immunodiagnostics, drug delivery and human-trial bioimaging in cancer research. This review summarises the state-of-the-art of the use of dye-doped silica nanoparticles in bioapplications and firstly accounts for the common nanoparticle synthesis methods, surface modification approaches and different bioconjugation strategies employed to generate biomolecule-coated nanoparticles. The use of dye-doped silica nanoparticles in immunoassays/biosensing, bioimaging and drug delivery is then provided and possible future directions in the field are highlighted. Other non-cancer-related applications involving silica nanoparticles are also briefly discussed. Importantly, the impact of how the protein corona has changed our understanding of NP interactions with biological systems is described, as well as demonstrations of its capacity to be favourably manipulated. Dye-doped silica nanoparticles have found success in the immunodiagnostics domain and have also shown promise as bioimaging agents in human clinical trials. Their use in cancer delivery has been restricted to murine models, as has been the case for the vast majority of nanomaterials intended for cancer therapy. This is hampered by the need for more human-like disease models and the lack of standardisation towards assessing nanoparticle toxicity. However, developments in the manipulation of the protein corona have improved the understanding of fundamental bio–nano interactions, and will undoubtedly assist in the translation of silica nanoparticles for disease treatment to the clinic.

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染料掺杂的二氧化硅纳米粒子：合成，表面化学和生物应用

荧光二氧化硅纳米粒子已广泛用于广泛的生物学应用中，并因其可预测的，易于理解的，灵活的化学性质和表观生物相容性而得到促进。将各种硅氧烷前体与荧光染料偶联并随后掺入到二氧化硅纳米颗粒中的能力，使得能够将这些荧光团掺杂的纳米材料工程化以满足生物学实验中的特定光学要求。因此，此类纳米材料已被用于癌症研究中的免疫诊断，药物输送和人体试验生物成像领域。这篇综述总结了在生物应用中使用染料掺杂的二氧化硅纳米粒子的最新技术，首先介绍了常见的纳米粒子合成方法，表面修饰方法和不同的生物缀合策略可用于生成生物分子涂层的纳米颗粒。然后提供了染料掺杂的二氧化硅纳米粒子在免疫测定/生物传感，生物成像和药物递送中的用途，并着重指出了该领域可能的未来方向。还简要讨论了涉及二氧化硅纳米颗粒的其他非癌症相关应用。重要的是，描述了蛋白质电晕如何改变了我们对NP与生物系统相互作用的理解的影响，并证明了其受到良好控制的能力。染料掺杂的二氧化硅纳米粒子已在免疫诊断领域取得成功，并且在人体临床试验中也有望作为生物成像剂使用。它们在癌症递送中的使用仅限于鼠模型，就像绝大多数用于癌症治疗的纳米材料一样。由于需要更多的类人疾病模型以及缺乏评估纳米颗粒毒性的标准化方法，这受到了阻碍。但是，蛋白质电晕操纵技术的发展已经增进了人们对基本的生物-纳米相互作用的理解，并且无疑将有助于二氧化硅纳米粒子在临床上的转化。