Fig. 5: Investigation of the homologous targeting capabilities of HM-SiO₂ NPs in vitro and tumor targeting in vivo.

a Typical CLSM images of three cancer cell lines (CT26, HeLa, and MCF-7) incubated with SiO₂ NPs, LB-SiO₂ NPs, CM-SiO₂ NPs, and HM-SiO₂ NPs for 4 h. Blue, cell nuclei stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI); red, Cy5-labeled SiO₂ cores. Scale bars, 20 μm. b–d Flow cytometric analysis of CT26 cells (b), HeLa cells (c), and MCF-7 cells (d) after 4 h incubation with blank solution, SiO₂ NPs, LB-SiO₂ NPs, CM-SiO₂ NPs, and HM-SiO₂ NPs. e Quantification of the mean fluorescence intensities (MFI) for the three cell lines (CT26, HeLa, and MCF-7). Data represent the mean ± s.d. (n = 3 biologically independent cells). f Left panel: representative in vivo fluorescence images of CT26 tumor-bearing mice at different time points after intravenous injection of SiO₂ NPs, LB-SiO₂ NPs, CM-SiO₂ NPs, and HM-SiO₂ NPs. Right panel: ex vivo fluorescence images of tumor and major organs (heart, lung, liver, spleen, and kidney) collected at 96 h after intravenous injection. g Time-dependent variation of fluorescence intensity at the tumor site after intravenous injection. h Quantitative region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of the fluorescent signals from the tumor and major organs collected at 96 h after intravenous injection. Experiments in panels a–d and f were repeated three times independently with similar results. Data represent the mean ± s.d. (n = 3 biologically independent mice) in panels g and h. Significance was determined by one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Tukey test in panels e and h. ****p < 0.0001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.