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Review
. 2018 Aug 2:9:831.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00831. eCollection 2018.

Biologically Targeted Magnetic Hyperthermia: Potential and Limitations

Affiliations
Review

Biologically Targeted Magnetic Hyperthermia: Potential and Limitations

David Chang et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Hyperthermia, the mild elevation of temperature to 40-43°C, can induce cancer cell death and enhance the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, achievement of its full potential as a clinically relevant treatment modality has been restricted by its inability to effectively and preferentially heat malignant cells. The limited spatial resolution may be circumvented by the intravenous administration of cancer-targeting magnetic nanoparticles that accumulate in the tumor, followed by the application of an alternating magnetic field to raise the temperature of the nanoparticles located in the tumor tissue. This targeted approach enables preferential heating of malignant cancer cells whilst sparing the surrounding normal tissue, potentially improving the effectiveness and safety of hyperthermia. Despite promising results in preclinical studies, there are numerous challenges that must be addressed before this technique can progress to the clinic. This review discusses these challenges and highlights the current understanding of targeted magnetic hyperthermia.

Keywords: cancer therapy; iron oxide nanoparticles; magnetic hyperthermia; magnetic nanoparticles; targeted therapy.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survival curves for asynchronous Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells heated at different temperatures for varying lengths of time. Adapted from Dewey et al. (1977).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different heat generation mechanisms of magnetic nanoparticles in response to an alternating magnetic field. Orange circles represent MIONs, short straight arrows represent magnetic field direction, curved arrows represent the movement (solid curved arrow) or change in magnetic moment direction (dashed curved arrow), and dashed lines represent domain boundaries in multi-domain particles. Adapted from Suriyanto et al. (2017).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Intra-tumoral delivery can achieve high concentrations of MIONs but are only suited to localized disease such as prostate cancer. (B) Intravenous delivery can potentially target poorly localized malignancies, often with lymph node metastases, such as lung cancer. AMF, alternating magnetic field; MIONs, magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles.

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