siRNA-loaded PEGylated porous silicon nanoparticles for lung cancer therapy

Biocompatible and biodegradable porous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs) with tunable pore size have been used as vehicles for drug delivery. Our pSiNPs have a mean size of 110 nm with an average pore size of 26 nm. Approximately 16.3 µg of siRNA can be loaded per mg of pSiNPs followed by polyethylene glycol (PEG) surface coating. siRNA-loaded PEGylated pSiNPs (P-pSiNPs) can be uptaken by A549 cells, and target pyruvate kinase isozyme type M2 (PKM2) mRNA and protein expression were effectively downregulated to 6.3 and 26.8 %, respectively. Cell viability decreased to 37.6 %; meanwhile, cell apoptosis upregulated to 17.3 %. The results prove that the siRNA-loaded pSiNPs coated with PEG can effectively deliver siRNA into cancer cells, and the efficiency is comparable to that of lipofectamine.