Templating Synthesis of Preloaded Doxorubicin in Hollow Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres for Biomedical Applications

Hollow mesoporous silica (HMS) spheres preloaded with the anticancer drug Doxorubicin (DOX) can be synthesized by using porous CaCO3 spheres as templates (see figure). With good biocompatibility, the HMS@DOX spheres exhibit a greatly enhanced therapeutic effect towards tumor cells ; this enhancement may be caused by the efficient protection of DOX and the pH-sensitive release of DOX, together with enhanced intracellular delivery. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as "Supporting Information". Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.