Chemotherapy is a general clinic treatment for cancers, but it has a lot of side effects due to its distribution throughout the body. Cancer cells and normal cells are simultaneously damaged by anticancer drugs, leading to new health problems. In order to improve the anticancer efficacy and optimize traditional chemotherapy, nanocarriers have been introduced for drug delivery. Various nanocarriers, including liposomes, polymers, dendrimers, nanocapsules, and inorganic nanoparticles, have been developed to achieve controllable drug delivery and release. Among the inorganic-based materials, mesoporous silica nanoparticles have excellent properties for controllable drug release due to their excellent stability, non-cytotoxicity, large surface and cavity volumes, tunable porosity, and facile modification.

However, simple mesoporous silica nanoparticles with single drug delivery can’t meet the requirements of modern clinic treatment. Multi functionalization of mesoporous silica nanocarriers by integrating two or more functional agents in a single platform for synergistic effects has opened new perspectives in their applications in drug delivery combined therapies such as photothermal therapy, photodynamics therapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, chemodynamic therapy, etc. In addition, combining therapy and diagnosis within a single platform is a growing trend, which can lead to image-guided therapy. Therefore, the development of such novel multifunctional drug delivery platforms which combine therapy and imaging is vital for integration of efficient clinical cancer diagnosis and treatment.

This research topic collection solicits the latest advances in nanomaterials, especially silica nanomaterials for drug delivery, which covers the topics including: synthesis, drug delivery, responsive release, imagining, therapy, cytotoxicity, biodegradation, and etc. All studies focused on drug delivery must contribute novel aspects of advanced materials design.

 Keywords: Drug Delivery, Silica, Therapy, Theranostic agent, Nanomaterials