Effect of different dynamic microvasculature in a solid tumor with the necrotic region during magnetic hyperthermia: An in-silico study

Abstract

Understanding the temperature distribution and its value in a magnetic hyperthermia cancer treatment could help us to improve the methods and approaches used for patients during their treatment. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of many different compositions. Blood vessels are one of the most significant components of TME for tumor cells proliferation and migration. In this research, we developed a multi-scale model including tumor vasculature networks and necrotic region to investigate the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) concentration distribution and temperature field in the heterogeneous tumor domain. We found that the tumor vasculature plays a significant role in increasing the temperature throughout the tumor. The highest average temperature is 43.03∘C for the high vascularized tumor in the tumor region. Meanwhile, it is 42.16∘C at the necrotic core which is slightly less than the average temperature in the tumor region. There is a difference in the temperature field at the tumor site and the necrotic region. The necrotic region is more vulnerable in the high vasculature domain due to the higher and more homogeneous temperature. The highest temperature difference between the high and low vasculature domains for the tumor region is 3.08∘C. This study shows that not only the necrotic field is a major barrier in increasing the temperature at the tumor site, but this region releases danger-associated molecular patterns causing inflammation and promoting the tumor progression. Further, it shows that vascular normalization is an option for increasing the temperature field and tumor ablation with higher efficacy.