Fabrication of cercosporin-loaded polydopamine- cloaked mesoporous silica nanoparticles enhanced photothermal-photodynamic and anticancer activity in pancreatic cancer

The lack of tumor targeting ability and the failure of single therapeutic approaches are two challenges in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Mesoporous silica (MS) nanoparticles of two sizes (MS50 and MS100) were fabricated and functionalized with polydopamine (PD), cercosporin (CE), and arginine-glycine-aspartic acid peptide (RP) for the dual purposes of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) aimed at integrin αvβ3 in pancreatic cancer. MS@PD-RP-CE were examined using several approaches, exhibiting selective drug release, enhanced photothermal conversion efficiency, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation under laser irradiation. MS100@PD-RP-CE exhibited enhanced cellular uptake and cytotoxicity against pancreatic cancer (PANC-1) in vitro, while selectively targeting pancreatic cancer cells over normal cells, in comparison to MS50@PD-RP-CE. The mechanism of cell death was analyzed utilizing Calcein-AM/PI, and nuclear staining techniques. MS100@PD-RP-CE demonstrated considerable biocompatibility, as shown by the hemolytic assay. Thus, MS100@PD-RP-CE demonstrates significant promise for the prospective treatment of pancreatic cancer.