A magnetically recoverable, fluorescence-tracked, molecularly imprinted nanocarrier for controlled bortezomib release

Background A dual fluorescent-magnetic molecularly imprinted nanocomposite (FMMIP-BTZ) was synthesized by coating Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with silica and fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate, followed by in-situ polydopamine polymerization using bortezomib (BTZ) as template. Methods The prepared nanocomposite was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-visible and fluorescence analysis. Results Template-selective recognition was confirmed by an imprinting factor of 3.20 (85.34 mg g⁻¹ for FMMIP versus 26.67 mg g⁻¹ for the non-imprinted control), with a BTZ loading efficiency of 69.3%. Release followed zero-order kinetics (k₀ = 3.276% h⁻¹, R² = 0.9937), reaching 80.5 ± 1% cumulative release, and was pH-responsive, rising from 41.1% at pH 7.4 to 84.5% at pH 4 over 6 h. Saturation magnetization fell from 0.48 to 0.04 emu g⁻¹ as the non-magnetic shell was added; despite this, particles remained separable under an external magnetic field at every synthesis, washing, and release step. Dual fluorescence from released BTZ and the FITC-labelled core enabled spectroscopic tracking of release. In an acute dermal irritation assessment, FMMIP-BTZ produced a mean erythema score of 1.00 at 24 h compared with 3.00 for the control. Molecular docking against COX-2, PRDX5, EGFR, and AKT1, together with a 100-ns MD simulation of the AKT1–bortezomib complex, provided exploratory mechanistic context for the experimentally observed response. Conclusion FMMIP-BTZ is thus a molecularly selective, magnetically separable, fluorescence-trackable platform with controlled, pH-responsive release; cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, and in vivo antitumour efficacy remain to be established.