Magnetic Nanoparticles Used in Oncology

Abstract

Recently, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have more and more often been used in experimental studies on cancer treatments, which have become one of the biggest challenges in medical research. The main goal of this research is to treat and to cure advanced or metastatic cancer with minimal side effects through nanotechnology. Drug delivery approaches take into account the fact that MNPs can be bonded to chemotherapeutical drugs, nucleic acids, synthetized antibodies or radionuclide substances. MNPs can be guided, and different treatment therapies can be applied, under the influence of an external magnetic field. This paper reviews the main MNPs’ synthesis methods, functionalization with different materials and highlight the applications in cancer therapy. In this review, we describe cancer cell monitorization based on different types of magnetic nanoparticles, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, magnetic hyperthermia, gene therapy and ferroptosis. Examples of applied treatments on murine models or humans are analyzed, and glioblastoma cancer therapy is detailed in the review. MNPs have an important contribution to diagnostics, investigation, and therapy in the so called theranostics domain. The main conclusion of this paper is that MNPs are very useful in different cancer therapies, with limited side effects, and they can increase the life expectancy of patients with cancer drug resistance.

Hybrid Magnetic Lipid-Based Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

“…In the single-domain, the coercivity of MNPs gradually decreases with the reduction in particle diameter, and at a second critical value of diameter (D S ), MNPs are in a superparamagnetic state ( Figure 1 ). The particle diameter in which superparamagnetic behavior appears (D S ) depends on the nanoparticles’ composition [ 20 , 28 , 29 ]. In the superparamagnetic state, MNPs exhibit zero coercivity and zero hysteresis ( Figure 2 B), showing high magnetic susceptibility, fast response to an external magnetic field, and loss of magnetization after the remotion of the magnetic field [ 15 , 16 , 26 ].…”

“…The effective magnetic hyperthermia by MNPs depends on several parameters, including the targeting of MNPs, their clearance, and heating power [ 32 ]. The targeting by MNPs of tumor cells can occur by passive targeting (i.e., nanoparticles accumulate in the tumor microenvironment as a response to their low particle size, a phenomenon known as the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect), active targeting (i.e., nanoparticles’ internalization into tumor cells due to the specific recognition of ligands on MNPs surface with receptors on tumor cells) ( Figure 3 ), magnetic targeting (i.e., MNPs guided to the tumor microenvironment through an application of an external magnetic field), which can enhance MNPs’ targeting with a subsequent improvement in the cancer cell killing rate [ 20 , 33 ]. Despite the importance of low particle size to promote MNPs’ targeting, nanoparticles below 10 nm can be rapidly eliminated through reticuloendothelial circulation, reducing their concentration in the tumor site [ 32 , 34 ].…”

“…These materials in the nanoscale have unique physical, chemical, and biological features determined by their distinct magnetic properties that are not observed in the bulk material, which make them applicable for diagnosis, therapy, and theragnostics [ 18 ]. Due to their great potential, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved them (e.g., Radiogardase ® , Ferumoxytol ® , Lumiren ® , Feraheme ® , and Endorem ® ) for iron treatment deficiency, as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for cancer detection and monitoring, as a carrier for delivering drugs to specific parts of the human body, and for treating hyperthermia [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Targeted Delivery Methods for Anticancer Drugs

“…Moreover, it is possible to regulate the size of the resulting nanoparticles by adding various iron salts (chloride, sulfate, nitrate, etc.) and by changing the ratio of Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ , the pH, and the ionic strength in the solution [62,67]. Reactions are carried out in an inert atmosphere to prevent the oxidation of the formed nanoparticles [68].…”

Review of Noninvasive or Minimally Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation

“…The chemical composition of MNPs is similar to that of MRI agents by having minimal cytotoxicity and long-term effectiveness (Petters et al, 2014 ; Roet et al, 2019 ). Meanwhile, with the development of nanotechnology, MNPs have huge biomedical application potential (Chen et al, 2017 ; Manescu Paltanea et al, 2021 ).…”