Local Drug Delivery Strategy for Cancer Treatment: Use of Biocompatible Sol-Gel-Derived Porous Materials

Porous silica xerogel materials have been developed to use as drug-release agents to be implanted directly in or near cancerous tissues. In order to test the capacity of the materials to absorb and then to release medicinal substances, a battery of examinations (UV and visible micro-Raman, porosity measurements, UV-visible absorption spectra) have been made using test drug molecules (clotrimazole, primaquine diphosphate and the anti-cancer agent vinblastine sulphate). Results show that the molecules can be post-doped into the gels and the Raman data provide indications of the best conditions for detecting the substances absorbed in the gels. Spectroscopic results show that the drug molecules are released by the xerogel over a period of 10 days. These results are promising for the development of these materials as drug-release agents.