ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
5 years ago

Nucleation and Assembly of Silica into Protein-Based Nanocomposites as Effective Anticancer Drug Carriers Using Self-Assembled Silk Protein Nanostructures as Biotemplates

Nucleation and Assembly of Silica into Protein-Based Nanocomposites as Effective Anticancer Drug Carriers Using Self-Assembled Silk Protein Nanostructures as Biotemplates
Liangjun Zhu, Jie Wang, Chuanbin Mao, Yungen Miao, Chenlin Li, Mingying Yang, Shuxu Yang
Bombyx mori (B. mori) silk fibroin and sericin can act as a great candidate in delivering drugs or other bioactive substances. Silica also has a great application in the field of drug delivery. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no report on the design of a nanocomposite made of silk protein and silica for drug delivery. Here, for the first time, we used B. mori silk fibroin (SF) and sericin (SS), self-assembled into nanospheres and nanofibers in situ in the aqueous solution, respectively, as a biotemplate to regulate the nucleation and self-assembly of silica for designing anticancer drug delivery. SF and SS mediated the nucleation and assembly of silica into monodispersed nanospheres (termed Si/SF) and nanofibers (termed Si/SS), respectively. The size and topography of the silica assemblies were dependent on the concentration of SF or SS as well as reaction conditions. Both Si/SF nanospheres and Si/SS nanofibers showed a high loading capability and sustained release profile of an anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX), in vitro. Si/SF nanospheres were found to be efficiently internalized in human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells and accumulate around the cell nuclei. Si/SS nanofibers could only adhere to the surface of the cancer cells. This indicates that DOX-loaded Si/SF nanospheres and Si/SS nanofibers are more effective in cancer therapy than free DOX. Our results suggest that the self-assembled Si/SF spheres and Si/SS nanofibers are potential effective anticancer drug carriers.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b05664

DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b05664

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