Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer globally, causing ≈396,792 deaths in 2022. Early diagnosis and advanced drug delivery are vital to prevent its progression. This research leverages the anticancer properties of selenium nanoparticles and enzalutamide, a leading prostate cancer drug, by coencapsulating them within mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs). MSNPs offer advantages for drug delivery, including high surface accessibility and a tunable porous structure. The results indicated that MSNPs synthesized via solvent extraction, yielding a specific surface area of 1017.4 m2/g, a pore volume of 0.2531 cm3/g, and an average pore size of ≈10 nm, were superior to those obtained by calcination, which yielded a smaller pore size (≈3 nm). Enzalutamide was loaded into these selenium-embedded MSNPs, achieving a drug loading efficiency of 76.3 ± 0.5%. Separately, curcumin was encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles with high efficiency (83.2 ± 0.7%). The combined nanosystem enables pH-responsive, gradual drug release that mimics the tumor microenvironment. MTT assays confirmed the drug-loaded system exerts significantly stronger, time- and concentration-dependent anticancer effects than the free drug. Furthermore, curcumin plays a vital role in enhancing anticancer efficacy and inducing apoptosis. This research demonstrates that the designed dual-nanoparticle system is a promising candidate for targeted prostate cancer therapy.
Tavakoli et al. (Sun,) studied this question.