Abstract

Magnetic nanocarriers have been used for specific drug delivery to release therapeutic drugs into target cancer cells. We used bifunctional methotrexate (MTX) conjugated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) (similar to 37 nm) engineered by dopamine-polyethylene glycol to targeted folate receptor (FR)-positive cancer cells. For this purpose, MTX was chemically loaded on to MNPs with N, N-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) in the absence of NHS at 0 degrees C. Activation process of MTX was analyzed via synthesis of different MTX methyl esters through HPLC instrument. The HPLC analysis showed that in a selective condition and in the presence of 1.1 equiv. of reactiveagent,alpha-carboxyl group of MTX was more active. Enzymatic release study of MTX demonstrated that the highest rate of drug release was at pH=3.8 with protease enzyme (85.12). Also, cytotoxicity assay revealed that Fe3O4-DPA-PEG-MTX NPs were able to target over expressed FR cell line (MCF-7) but did not have any effect on FR-negative A549 cells and significantly inhibit them.