Application of iron oxide nanoparticles in glioma imaging and therapy: from bench to bedside

Abstract

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors and have a very dismal prognosis. However, recent advancements in nanomedicine and nanotechnology provide opportunities for personalized treatment regimens to improve the poor prognosis of patients suffering from glioma. This comprehensive review starts with an outline of the current status facing glioma. It then provides an overview of the state-of-the-art applications of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) to glioma diagnostics and therapeutics, including MR contrast enhancement, drug delivery, cell labeling and tracking, magnetic hyperthermia treatment and magnetic particle imaging. It also addresses current challenges associated with the biological barriers and IONP design with an emphasis on recent advances and innovative approaches for glioma targeting strategies. Opportunities for future development are highlighted.

Magnetic hyperthermia therapy for the treatment of glioblastoma: a review of the therapy’s history, efficacy and application in humans

“…Some obstacles remain for optimal MHT application in GBM, such as accurate intratumoural heating and precise temperature control at the tumour site [129]. Accurate local heating within the tumour mass should be ensured, as extreme temperature elevations may lead to damage of surrounding healthy brain tissue and insufficient tumour heating may lead to inadequate treatment and subsequent tumour recurrence.…”

Biomedical applications of nanotechnology

“…The magnetic properties of iron oxide have been used for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, such as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic particle imaging, and ultrasonic techniques (e.g. magneto-motive ultrasound (Oh et al 2006), photoacoustic imaging, and magnetic particle hyperthermia (Gupta and Gupta 2005;Liu et al 2016b). The electronic structure of zinc oxide (ZnO) is useful for biomedical applications; for example, the intrinsic fluorescence of ZnO nanowires has been employed to image cancer cells (Hong et al 2011).…”

Recombinant epidermal growth factor-like domain-1 from coagulation factor VII functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles for targeted glioma magnetic resonance imaging

“…9 Various ligands with specific targeting abilities have offered unique opportunities for enhanced accumulation of IONPs and specificity to glioma, eg, RGD peptide, 39 chlorotoxin, 40 epidermal growth factor, 41 heat shock protein 70, 42 lactoferrin, 43,44 transferrin 45 and antibodies (anti-insulinlike-growth-factor binding protein 7 single domain antibody, 46 anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 47 ). The targeted IONPs could reduce T2 and T2* relaxation times, providing tumor-specific contrast on susceptibility-weighted images 44,48 or T2*-weighted images 41,42 for improved tumor delineation.…”

“…[6][7][8] As negative MR contrast agents, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have attracted tremendous attention for glioma imaging due to their tunable sizes, large surface areas, easy modification and considerable biocompatibility. 9 Compared with gadolinium-based contrast agents used in clinic, IONPs can offer prolonged delineation of disseminated tumor boundaries due to their enhanced cellular uptake and slower elimination from tumor, mediated by correspondence: gang liu state Key laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, school of Public health, Xiamen University, Xiang'an south road, Xiang'an District, Xiamen 361102, Fujian, People's republic of china Tel/fax +86 922 880 648 email gangliu.cmitm@xmu.edu.cn the well-known enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. Nevertheless, a major challenge faced with IONPs in tumor diagnosis is the nonspecific biodistribution and thus inability to target tumor sites.…”