Mesostructured silica based delivery system for a drug with a peptide as a cell-penetrating vector

A drug delivery system using mesostructured silica as a reservoir has been developed for the storage and controlled release of a drug with a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) as a vector. We use fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) as the drug model and octaarginine (R8) as a vector to endow the drug with cell-penetrating property. The mesostructured silica reservoir system was prepared by using a one-pot liquid–crystal templating method, which is suitable for the encapsulation of intact FITC-R8 conjugates and sustained release of drugs without hampering their properties. The hydrophobic poly(propyl oxide) (PPO) shell of the pore-filling Pluronic F127 and the electrostatic interaction between R8 and siloxide ions on the pore walls act as the diffusion-limiting factors of the FITC-R8 conjugate. A sigmoidal in vitro release of FITC-R8 from mesostructured silica into phosphate buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) was observed and the typical release duration was 5 days at 37 °C. Release from the reservoir yielded significant elongation in duration of the FITC signals in DU145 cells by confocal microscopic analysis, compared with a single administration of FITC-R8.