The motive of work was to develop a multi-walled carbon nanoplatform through facile method for transportation of potential anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). Folic acid (FA)-ethylene diamine (EDA) anchored and acid functionalised MWCNTs were covalently grafted with DOX via π-π stacking interaction. The resultant composite was corroborated by 1 H NMR, FTIR, XRD, EDX, SEM, and DSC study. The drug entrapment efficiency of FA-conjugated MWCNT was found high and stability study revealed its suitability in biological system. FA-EDA-MWCNTs-DOX conjugate demonstrated a significant in vitro anticancer activity on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. MTT study revealed the lesser cytotoxicity of folate-conjugated MWCNTs. The obtained results demonstrated the targeting specificity of FA-conjugate via overexpressed folate receptor deemed greater scientific value to overcome multidrug protection during cancer therapy. The proposed strategy is a gentle contribution towards development of biocompatible targeted drug delivery and offers potential to address the current challenges in cancer therapy.

Our main aim in the present investigation was to assess the cancer targeting potential of doxorubicin conjugated with folic acid (FA), ethylene di-amine (EDA) and surface F- MWCNTs (FA-EDA-MWCNTs- DOX) conjugate employing on MCF-7 (breast cancer cell line) for efficient tumor targeting. We developed a highly effective novel targeted drug delivery based on DOX-conjugated with the surface of F-MWCNTs by using nucleophilic substitution reaction mechanism and evaluated in facile strategy for cancer treatment. The in vitro drug release study shows that the percentage of drug release under an acidic condition pH-5.4 is higher than that under normal physiological conditions. The FA-EDAMWCNTs- DOX nano-conjugate affords higher efficacy in tumor growth suppression due to its stealth nature and most preferentially taken up by cultured MCF-7 cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis mechanism. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Visible Spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) measurements clearly confirmed the functionalization & conjugation steps. The results concluded that developed watersoluble nano-conjugate might emerge as “safe and effective” nano-medicine in cancer treatment by minimizing the side effects with generally regarded as a safe prominence.