An efficient gold nanocarrier for combined chemo-photodynamic therapy on tumour cells

A multimodal nanocarrier based on mesoporous silica coated gold nanoparticles (Au@mSiO2) is developed for effective cancer treatment in vitro. Through introducing octadecyltrimethoxysilane (C18TMS) as a porogen, the porosity of silica shells can be well controlled. The mesoporous silica offers high loading capacity for photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6), thus improving the efficacy of singlet oxygen generation after the cellular uptake to achieve photodynamic therapy. Besides, Au@mSiO2 with high surface area can also be used as a chemotherapy drug carrier to load doxorubicin (DOX). Hence, the Au@mSiO2 nanocarrier combines photodynamic- and chemo-therapy together through simultaneously loading different types of therapeutic agents, Ce6 and DOX, which show obvious synergistic cancer cell killing effects. Therefore, this Au@mSiO2 nanocarrier would exhibit inspiring potential for cancer combination therapy.