International Journal of Nanomedicine (May 2019)

Berberine-loaded Janus gold mesoporous silica nanocarriers for chemo/radio/photothermal therapy of liver cancer and radiation-induced injury inhibition

  • Li XD,
  • Wang Z,
  • Wang XR,
  • Shao D,
  • Zhang X,
  • Li L,
  • Ge MF,
  • Chang ZM,
  • Dong WF

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 3967 – 3982

Abstract

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Xiao-Dong Li,1–3 Zheng Wang,1,2 Xin-Rui Wang,4 Dan Shao,1 Xi Zhang,5 Li Li,1 Ming-Feng Ge,1 Zhi-Min Chang,1 Wen-Fei Dong11CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-Medical Diagnostics, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, People’s Republic of China; 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Echocardiography, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Hepatology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Rheumatology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: The combination of chemotherapy with radiotherapy serves as a common therapeutic strategy in clinics. However, it is unsatisfactory due to its poor therapeutic efficiency and severe side-effects originating from chemotherapy-exerted systemic toxicity as well as radiation-induced injury.Purpose: Hence, Berberine (Ber), an isoquinolin alkaloid with low toxicity and protective effects against radiotherapy, was used as a novel chemotherapeutic agent for chemo-radiotherapy of liver cancer.Patients and methods: We preloaded Ber into folic acid targeting Janus gold mesoporous silica nanocarriers (FA-JGMSNs) for overcoming the poor bioavailability of Ber. Furthermore, FA-JGMSNs were not only employed as radiosensitizers for expanding radiotherapeutic effect, but also used as photothermal agents for supplementing chemo-radiotherapeutic effect by local photothermal therapy.Results: In vitro and in vivo experiemtal results demonstrated the highly efficient anti-tumor effect, good biosafety as well as the effective protection of normal tissue of this nanoplatform.Conclusion: Based on its superb performance, we believe our work provided a feasible strategy for triple-therapies of liver cancer.Keywords: Berberine, chemotherapy, radio-sensitization, Au MSNs, Janus, photothermal therapy

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