Magnetic nanoparticle-promoted droplet vaporization for in vivo stimuli-responsive cancer theranostics

Abstract

<p>The development of efficient strategies for in vivo stimuli-responsive cancer treatment and personalized biomedicine is a great challenge. To overcome the critical issues and limitations of traditional protocols using acoustic droplet vaporization and optical droplet vaporization in stimuli-responsive tumor treatment, we herein report a new strategy, magnetic droplet vaporization (MDV), based on nanobiotechnology, for efficient magnetic field-responsive cancer theranostics. Perfluorohexane (PFH)-encapsulated superparamagnetic hollow iron oxide nanoparticles with a high magnetic-thermal energy transfer capability quickly respond to an external alternating current (a.c.) magnetic field to produce thermal energy and raise the temperature of the surrounding tumor tissue. The encapsulated PFH, with a desirable boiling point of ~56°C, can be vaporized to enhance the performance of ultrasound imaging of tumors, as systematically demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. The magnetic–thermal energy transfer further ablated and removed tumors in mice tumor xenograft models. This unique MDV principle with high versatility and performance is expected to broaden the biomedical applications of nanotechnology and promote clinical translations of intelligent diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, especially for battling cancer. </p>