Heated iron nanoparticles increase chemo effect

Print 28 April 2016
Michael Gibney / FiercePharma

A team of Japanese researchers from several institutions across the country announced they were able to enhance a nanoparticle drug delivery system by applying heat, giving the chemotherapy drug the added benefit of local hyperthermia in head and neck cancers.

The team, mostly from Yokohama City University, published their findings in Nature.

In a rabbit model with tongue cancer, the scientists used iron nanoparticles as a magnet-driven delivery vehicle with direct chemotherapeutic properties. And importantly, the nanoparticles remain stable at temperatures around 100°C, making them ideal for hyperthermic activity, as well. The combination therapy, the team writes, “has been shown to enhance cellular uptake of anti-cancer drugs.”

“In the current study, we demonstrated that the three-fold strategy of chemotherapy with Fe(Salen) nanoparticles, magnetically guided delivery of the nanoparticles to the tumor, and AMF-induced heating of the nanoparticles to induce local hyperthermia exhibited a potent anti-cancer effect in a rabbit model of tongue cancer in vivo,” the team wrote in their discussion. “It is noteworthy that a high drug dose was not necessary for successful results in either application of the electromagnet or AMF exposure.”

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