Abstract
Background: Advances in the medicinal nanotechnology have given upward thrust to multifunctional efficient nanocarriers that can be engineered with tunable physico-chemical traits to deliver one or extra healing agent(s) appropriately and selectively to the most cancers cells, focusing on intracellular organellespecific drug delivery.
Objective: Large pores of mesoporous silica nanoparticles allow the other particles to be filled with a drug through endocytosis. These emerge as highly attractive class of drug and gene delivery vectors. Gold nanoparticles
can also pack different sizes and several ligands, in order to gain function of targeting tumor cells.
Conclusion: In the present review, we compile the recent advances in mesoporous silica and gold nanoparticles as carriers of drugs and genes to tumors by passive and active approaches with descriptive examples. In addition, market status of mesoporous silica and gold based nanodrugs has been discussed. Finally, the efforts are made to discuss the current challenges and future prospectives.
Keywords: Mesoporous silica and gold based nanovectors in anticancer drug delivery, mechanisms of action, recent advances, current challenges, future prospective, tumors.
Graphical Abstract