Highly fluorescent, photostable, and ultrasmall silicon drug nanocarriers for long-term tumor cell tracking and in-vivo cancer therapy.

Silicon nanoparticle (SiNP) nanocarriers feature strong fluorescence, ultrasmall size, robust photostability, and tunable drug-loading capacity. Using SiNP nanocarriers, the first example of long-term cancer cell tracking is successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, in vivo experiments show that tumor-bearing mice treated with SiNP nanocarriers survive over 20 d without observable tumor growth, demonstrating the high-efficacy chemotherapy of the Si nanocarriers.