Photostable and Biocompatible Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles for Imaging-Guided Co-Delivery of siRNA and Doxorubicin to Drug-Resistant Cancer Cells

The development of effective and safe vehicles to deliver small interfering RNA(siRNA) and chemotherapeutics remains a major challenge in RNA interference-based combination therapy with chemotherapeutics,which has emerged as a powerful platform to treat drug-resistant cancer cells.Herein,we describe the development of novel all-in-one fluorescent silicon nanoparticles(SiNPs)-based nanomedicine platform for imaging-guided co-delivery of siRNA and doxorubicin(DOX).This approach enhanced therapeutic efficacy in multidrug-resistant breast cancer cells(i.e.,MCF-7/ADR cells).Typically,the SiNP-based nanocarriers enhanced the stability of siRNA in a biological environment(i.e.,medium or RNase A) and imparted the responsive release behavior of siRNA,resulting in approximately 80% down-regulation of P-glycoprotein expression.Co-delivery of P-glycoprotein siRNA and DOX led to>35-fold decrease in the half maximal inhibitory concentration of DOX in comparison with free DOX,indicating the pronounced therapeutic efficiency of the resultant nanocomposites for drug-resistant breast cancer cells.The intracellular time-dependent release behaviors of siRNA and DOX were revealed through tracking the strong and stable fluorescence of SiNPs.These data provide valuable information for designing effective RNA interference-based co-delivery carriers.