Hollow mesoporous SiO2–ZnO nanocapsules and effective in vitro delivery of anticancer drugs against different cancers with low doses of drugs

Spherical hollow and mesoporous SiO2–ZnO nanocapsules were synthesized through sol-gel synthesis approach. Metabolic activity and biocompatibility of these nanocapules were tested and confirmed that SiO2–ZnO nanocapsules are not toxic. Small biomolecules and drug can be loaded into the nanoparticles since they are mesoporous with hollow core. Further these nanocapsules are capable of loading a huge amount of anticancer drugs such as imatinib and paclitaxel. The sustained release of the drugs demonstrated that these functionalized nanocapsules are useful for various therapeutic applications with precise release of drugs such as for the cancer therapy with low doses. To check the therapeutic efficiency of these nanocapsules, HeLa cells (cervical cancer cell line), breast cancer cell lines such as MCF-7 (primary breast cancer) and MDA-MB-231 (triple negative breast cancer cell lines) were used for the study. For all cells the therapeutic efficiencies obtained are better than the treatment efficiencies obtained with the administration of the free drugs and it was found that the low doses are required for the treatment once the drug molecules are formulated with these nanocapsules. Results directed us that in future these nanocapsules may have a huge clinical potential to treat various diseases.