A silica-polymer composite nano system for tumor-targeted imaging and p53 gene therapy of lung cancer.

In our study, a silica-polymer composite nano system (MB-NSi-p53-CS ternary complexes) composed of methylene blue-encapsulated amine-terminated silica nanoparticles (MB-NSi) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) were successfully developed for tumor-targeted imaging and p53 gene therapy of lung cancer. MB was employed as a NIR probe for in vivo imaging, MB-NSi nanoparticles were served as gene vector, while CS was applied to be a coating and targeting polymer. MB-NSi-p53-CS ternary complexes displayed nanosized diameter, effective p53 condensation ability, efficient p53 protection profile, and superior bovine serum albumin stability in vitro.