Mesoporous Based Drug Delivery: A Smart and Promising Approach for Prostate Cancer

Mesoporous silica has been gaining popularity as a drug delivery medium in recent years. Materials scientists have used these inorganic carriers successfully in other fields, including catalysis, purification, and adsorption. A major challenge in medicine is delivering drugs to defective cells or tumor cells in a way that has minimal toxic side effects. Due to the poor physicochemical and biological properties of a drug molecule like solubility, permeability, absorption and bioavailability, patients may have to take high doses of the drug to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. Various drug carriers are available in the pharmaceutical industry to help solve this problem. Biocompatible, chemically, and thermally stable nanoparticles, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), are ideal for this application. During the last few years, research on the mesoporous-based delivery system has been studied vigorously. These materials act as drug carriers for the delivery of different therapeutic agents. This versatility is because they are used for the loading of small molecules and macromolecules such as proteins and siRNA. Mesoporous materials as a drug delivery system were discussed in this chapter. Specifically, it provides an overview of the synthesis, structural configurations, and their roles in loading and delivering therapeutic agents for the anticancer agents used in prostate cancer. The applications of these materials in prostate cancer for the detection, diagnosis, and treatment, were explored.

Keywords: Mesoporous Material, Nanoparticulate System, Prostate Cancer.