Tuning pH sensitive chitosan and cisplatin over spinel ferrite/silica nanocomposite for anticancer activity in MCF-7 cell line

30%MFe₂O₄/Silica/Chitosan (M = Ni, Cu, Co and Mn) was prepared by pre-wrapping chitosan (CS) over hydrophilic silica (HYPS) for cisplatin (cis-Pt) release. CS coating was optimized with 0.06 wt% and 0.6 wt % at different pH (5, 6 and 6.5). CS (0.6 wt%) coated over CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/cis-Pt by optimizing two ways of pH adjustments. In method I, cis-Pt (0.15 mmolg⁻¹ of nanocarrier) was preloaded with CuFe₂O₄/HYPS, then immersed in CS of pH 6.0 (cis-Pt/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/CS). In method II, CS was pre-wrapped over CuFe₂O₄/HYPS and then loaded with cis-Pt (CS/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/cis-Pt). CoFe₂O₄/HYPS showed ferromagnetic behavior with high magnetization (14.15 emu/g), while MnFe₂O₄/HYPS showed a super paramagnetic behavior (1.49 emu/g). CuFe₂O₄/HYPS showed preferable paramagnetic effect (7.65 emu/g) with cis-Pt release of about 64% for 72 h cis-Pt/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS and cis-Pt/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/CS (0.025–0.5 mg/ml) were studied in MCF-7 and HEK293. CuFe₂O₄/HYPS was not cytotoxic, while cis-Pt/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/CS, prepared by method I showed a non-significant anti-cancer effect due to premediated cis-Pt release. Conversely, cis-Pt/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS and CS/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/cis-Pt prepared by method II significantly reduced cell viability in dose dependent manner. MCF7 cells treated with CS/CuFe₂O₄/HYPS/cis-Pt (method II) at lowest concentration (0.025 mg/ml) resulted in 70.7% cell viability, whereas HEK293 cells had a 95% viability, thus making the nanocomposite an effective drug delivery system.