A Novel Synthesis of Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)@Au@Porous SiO(2) Structure for NIR Irradiation-Induced DOX Release and Cancer Treatment

Doxorubicin (DOX) alone or in combination has been widely used for numerous cancers, including breast, lung, bladder, and so on. In this article, a core/shell/shell structured Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)@Au@porous SiO(2) particles for the drug delivery and release of DOX was demonstrated, with the aid of near-infrared irradiation. Fe(3)O(4) was used to direct the transportation and delivery of the drug-loaded composite to the target tissues and organs under an external magnetic field, the first layer of SiO(2) was used for Au nanoparticle attachment, Au acted as the agent for light–thermal conversion, and the porous SiO(2) was used to load DOX. The morphology of the nanoparticles was studied by transmission electron microscopy, and the porous structure was characterized by N(2) adsorption/desorption curves. The drug delivery system displayed high drug loading capacity, and the release behavior was largely impacted by the environmental pH. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)@Au@porous SiO(2) and DOX loaded Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)@Au@porous SiO(2) was studied through in vitro 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide cell viability assay.