AO, acridine orange; APTES, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane; APTMS, amino propyl trimethoxysilane; BCL-2, B-cell lymphoma-2; BCS, Biopharmaceutical Classification System; Bio-TEM, biological transmission electron microscopy; C dots, Cornell dots; CMC, critical micelle concentration; CPT, camptothecin; CTAB, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide; Cancer therapy; EPR, enhanced permeability and retention; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GI, gastrointestinal; GNRs@mSiO2, mesoporous silica-encapsulated gold nanorods; Gene delivery; LHRH, luteinising-hormone releasing hormone; MDR, multi-drug resistance; MRP1, multidrug resistance protein 1; MSN-Dox-G2, Dox-loaded and G2 PAMAM-modified MSNs; MSNs, mesoporous silica nanoparticles; MSNs-HA, hyaluronic acid-conjugated MSNs; MSNs-RGD/TAT, RGD/TAT peptide-modified MSNs; MSNs-TAT, TAT peptide-modified MSNs; MSNs@PDA-PEG-FA, poly(ethylene glycol)-folic acid-functionalized polydopamine-modified MSNs; MTT, 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide; Mesoporous silica nanoparticles; Multidrug resistance; NIR, near-infrared; P-gp, P-glycoprotein; PAMAM, polyamidoamine; PDEAEMA, poly (2-(diethylamino)ethylmethacrylate); PDMAEMA, poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethylmethacrylate); PEG400, polyethylene glycol 400; PEI, polyethyleneimine; PLL, poly-l-lysine; PTX, paclitaxel; Poorly soluble drug; Q-MSNs, quercetin encapsulated MSNs; RGD, arginine-glycine-aspartate; TAT, trans-activating transcriptor; TMB, 1,3,5-trimethybenzene; pDNA, plasmid DNA