Abstract
In Asia, including Taiwan, malignant tumors such as Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) one of the liver cancer is the most diagnosed subtype. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been a typical diagnostic method for accurately diagnosing HCC. When it is difficult to demonstrate non-enhanced MRI of tumors, radiologists can use contrast agents (such as Gd3+, Fe3O4, or FePt) for T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging remain in the liver for a long time to facilitate diagnosis via MRI. However, it is sometimes difficult for T2-weighted imaging to detect small tumor lesions because the liver tissue may absorb iron ions. This makes early cancer detection a challenging goal. This challenge has prompted current research to create novel nanocomposites for enhancing the noise-to-signal ratio of MRI. To develop a method that can more efficiently diagnose and simultaneously treat HCC during MRI examination, we designed a functionalized montmorillonite (MMT) material with a porous structure to benefit related drugs, such as mitoxantrone (MIT) delivery or as a carrier for the FePt nanoparticles (FePt NPs) to introduce cancer therapy. Multifunctional FePt@MMT can simultaneously visualize HCC by enhancing MRI signals, treating various diseases, and being used as an inducer of magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH). After loading the drug MIT, FePt@MMT-MIT provides both MFH treatment and chemotherapy in one nanosystem. These results ultimately prove that functionalized FePt@MMT-MIT could be integrated as a versatile drugs delivery system by combining with MRI, chemotheraeutic drugs, and magnetic guide targeting.
Highlights
High malignancy of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks second in the fatality rate in Asia [1,2,3], including Taiwan, Japan, and China
For patients who have a high risk for developing HCC, such as carriers of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV), liver cirrhosis caused by any etiologies, and steatotic liver changes, screening and early detection of HCC is the most effective and possible curative strategy in treating HCC [19,20,21]
After an evaluation with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), it was confirmed that cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was dismissed at 500 degrees (Additional file 1: Figure S1c)
Summary
High malignancy of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks second in the fatality rate in Asia [1,2,3], including Taiwan, Japan, and China. Most patients with HCC appear to be clinically healthy, with almost no relevant signs or symptoms, while having large tumors in the liver [11,12,13]. Among the many screening and diagnostic methods, the advantage of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is that it does not generate any ionizing radiation [23,24,25]. To improve the ability to detect HCC in the liver, the addition of superparamagnetic iron-based nanoparticles can be used as a contrast developer to display a high-intensity mode on T2-weighted MRI images [26,27,28]
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