Virus-mimicking mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules with soft framework and rough surface for enhanced cellular uptake and tumor penetration

Jun Tao; Kun Chen; Xiaodan Su; Lili Ren; Junjie Zhang; Lei Bao; Heng Dong; Guangming Lu; Zhaogang Teng; Lianhui Wang

doi:10.1039/C9BM01559K

Virus-mimicking mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules with soft framework and rough surface for enhanced cellular uptake and tumor penetration†

Jun Tao,^a Kun Chen,^a Xiaodan Su,^a Lili Ren,^a Junjie Zhang,^a Lei Bao,

^b Heng Dong,

^c Guangming Lu,

^d Zhaogang Teng

*^ae and Lianhui Wang

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials, Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Centre for Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications (NJUPT), Nanjing 210023, P.R. China
E-mail: iamzgteng@njupt.edu.cn, iamlhwang@njupt.edu.cn

^b Soft Matter & Interface Group, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia

^c Central Laboratory, Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, P.R. China

^d Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, P.R. China

^e State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China

Abstract

An enveloped virus with soft and rough shells has strong penetration ability for cells. Inspired by the unique structure of virus, we successfully constructed virus-mimicking mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules (denoted as VMONs) for the first time by decorating small-sized silica nanoparticles on soft mesoporous organosilica hollow spheres. TEM and SEM images reveal that the prepared VMONs display uniform diameters (240 nm), a soft framework, a rough surface, and excellent dispersity. Quantitative nanomechanical mapping further demonstrates that the VMONs possess an extremely low Young's modulus (36 MPa) and a scraggly surface. In view of the successful construction of the virus-mimicking nanocapsules, the VMONs are further modified with human serum albumin (HSA) and Cy5.5-maleimide (Mal-Cy5.5) to investigate their cell penetration ability. Flow cytometry analysis reveals that the internalization of VMONs@HSA-Cy5.5 increases 2.74-fold compared to that of the conventional mesoporous nanosphere. Confocal laser scanning microscopy images show that the VMONs@HSA-Cy5.5 diffuses deeper for multicellular spheroids compared to both hard and soft mesoporous organosilica nanospheres. The penetration ability of the VMONs and SMONs increases 18.49 and 6.13-fold compared to that of MONs at the depth of 60 μm. Thanks to the excellent cellular penetration ability, the virus-mimicking VMONs@HSA-Cy5.5 can effectively deliver the anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox) into drug-resistant MCF-7/ADR human breast cancer cells and significantly enhance the chemotherapeutic efficacy. Taken together, the constructed virus-mimicking organosilica nanocapsules with a soft framework and a rough surface possess strong cellular internalization and tumor penetration abilities, providing a unique and effective nanoplatform for biomedical applications.

Biomaterials Science

Virus-mimicking mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules with soft framework and rough surface for enhanced cellular uptake and tumor penetration†

Abstract

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Virus-mimicking mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules with soft framework and rough surface for enhanced cellular uptake and tumor penetration

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