Magnetic nanoparticle drug delivery systems for targeting tumor

Vicky V Mody,Arthur Cox,Wesley Bevins,Harish Parihar,Samit Shah,Ajay Singh

doi:10.1007/s13204-013-0216-y

Abstract

Tumor hypoxia, or low oxygen concentration, is a result of disordered vasculature that lead to distinctive hypoxic microenvironments not found in normal tissues. Many traditional anti-cancer agents are not able to penetrate into these hypoxic zones, whereas, conventional cancer therapies that work by blocking cell division are not effective to treat tumors within hypoxic zones. Under these circumstances the use of magnetic nanoparticles as a drug delivering agent system under the influence of external magnetic field has received much attention, based on their simplicity, ease of preparation, and ability to tailor their properties for specific biological applications. Hence in this review article we have reviewed current magnetic drug delivery systems, along with their application and clinical status in the field of magnetic drug delivery.

Highlights

Many traditional anti-cancer agents are not able to penetrate into these hypoxic zones, whereas, conventional cancer therapies that work by blocking cell division are not effective to treat tumors within hypoxic zones
Under these circumstances the use of magnetic nanoparticles as a drug delivering agent system under the influence of external magnetic field has received much attention, based on their simplicity, ease of preparation, and ability to tailor their properties for specific biological applications
Hypoxia is a pathological condition in which the whole body or specific tissues are deprived of an adequate oxygen supply

Summary

Introduction

Hypoxia is a pathological condition in which the whole body or specific tissues are deprived of an adequate oxygen supply. This avoids an ‘active’ behavior of the particles when there is no applied field This behavior of superparamagnetic materials results in potential advantages to deliver therapeutics onto specific sites under the influence of external magnetic field and can be reverted to their nonmagnetic states by removing external magnetic field to allow them to be excreted (Park et al 2010). The choice of the biodegradable polymeric shell, namely polyalkylcyanoacrylates, was based on well-demonstrated therapeutic results in the treatment of both resistant and nonresistant cancers of a wide range of cell lines, and the low toxicity levels seen in Phase I and II clinical trials (Merle et al 2006) In addition to this application, magnetic microspheres loaded with the c-emitting radioisotope 90Y have been successfully used for a radionuclide therapy in the eradication of small subcutaneous B-lymphoma in mouse (Hafeli et al 1997). Their application as targeted drug carriers has been commended due to their unique features, such as paramagnetism, nanoscale, narrow size distribution and membrane-bound form (Grunberg et al 2004)

Magnetic nanoparticles for gene delivery

Findings

Conclusion