Developing a new photoluminescent, nanoporous, and biocompatible glycodendrimer for smart hepatic cancer treatment

• Photoluminescent and nanoporous UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal glycodendrimer was synthesized through the divergent technique. • UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal was used as a DOX@CUR nanocarrier. • DOX@CUR-loaded UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal displayed an acidic pH-triggered drug release profile. • In vitro cellular test results suggested UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal as a potential nanosystem in cancer therapy. In this work for the first time, a novel photoluminescent glycodendrimer was fabricated through the growth of polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM-G3) on the zirconium-based nano metal–organic framework (Zr-MOF) (UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM). Subsequently, the as-synthesized UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM was functionalized with D-galactose (D-Gal) to increase the biocompatibility and induce targeted drug delivery for obtained system (UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal). The UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal was evaluated using several characterization techniques. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption test obtained mean pore diameter of UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal ∼ 5.87 nm. Owing to the favorable features, UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal provided respectively 71.4% and 56.0% of drug loading for both doxorubicin (DOX) and curcumin (CUR), and pH-controlled release profiles. Cell viability assay approved that the functionalization with D-Gal enhanced the biocompatibility as well as achieved targeted hepatic cancer treatment. In addition, the 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining and cell cycle showed that the UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal could uptake within cancer cells to obtain improved cancer treatment efficacy. In comparison to the free PAMAM dendrimers or UiO-66-NH 2 based drug carriers the targeted drug delivery capability combined with the bioimaging potential of UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal could be valuable advantages, so, the results declared that the UiO-66-NH 2 -PAMAM-Gal could act as an optimistic multifunctional candidate for both bioimaging and targeted tumor therapy.