PEI grafted Fe3O4@SiO2@SBA-15 labeled FA as a pH-sensitive mesoporous magnetic and biocompatible nanocarrier for targeted delivery of doxorubicin to MCF-7 cell line

[Display omitted] •The synthesized targeted MMNPs nanocarrier is biocompatible.•The DOX loaded targeted MMNPs nanocarrier showed a pH-dependent release behaviour.•The high internalization of the synthesized targeted MMNPs nanocarrier caused to complete the cellular uptake process in the first 3 h. In this study, the synthesis and surface modification of mesoporous magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2@SBA-15) using a cationic biodegradable and biocompatible copolymer have been reported. For this purpose firstly, the mesoporous magnetic nanoparticles (MMNPs) were synthesized by sol-gel methods on Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Then they were modified with TMVS and amino acid L-cysteine for preparing VMMNPs- L-cysteine. In another reaction, the PEI was modified with CM-β-CD and FA which was embedded into the CD cavity via host-guest interaction for preparing PEI/CM-β-CD/FA. Finally, the PEI/CM-β-CD/FA was successfully grafted onto VMMNPs- L-cysteine for the synthesis of a novel hollow mesoporous sphere as a nanocarrier. The structure and magnetic properties of the targeted MMNPs nanocarrier were confirmed by FT-IR, TGA, XRD, VSM, zeta potential analysis, SEM, and EDX analysis. The in-vitro drug release and drug loading capacity were measured using UV spectroscopy. Finally, to investigate the effect of this drug-nanocarrier on breast cancer cells, the MCF7 cells were cultured and the cell death rate was determined by MTT assay and drug IC50 after treatment with these drug nanocarriers (The concentration of each drug derivative that reduces cell growth by 50 % compared to control culture). Fluorescence microscopy was used to observe the morphology changes of the cancer cell nuclei.