Cancer And Nanoparticles: Magnetic Nanoparticles Deliver Deadly Heat To Cancerous Tumors

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have found that magnetic nanoparticles could deliver heat directly to cancerous tumors. This would help to dramatically increase the effectiveness of pre-existing cancer treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation--perhaps even reducing the need for both of them altogether.

In many more severe cases, treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation are oftentimes both required. However, the harmful side-effects can take a toll on the body, with symptoms resulting in fatigue, nausea and vomiting, anemia, infection, potential blood clots and mouth, gum and throat problems, along with other health issues that are associated with just chemotherapy. When it comes to radiation, nausea and vomiting are also common, along with spontaneous bleeding, bloody diarrhea, sloughing skin, hair loss, severe fatigue and mouth ulcers.

During the study, researchers used microscopic balls of iron oxide that heat up when exposed, allowing them to apply heat to invasive tumors. It's important to note that different particles will deliver different doses of heat to different tumors more quickly and easily than others.

"You want to design your nanoparticles for the kind of cancer you're treating-whether it's localized or spread through the body," said NIST's Cindi Dennis, via Psy.org. "The amount of electricity needed to create the field can be 100 kilowatts or more. That costs a lot of money, so we want to help engineer particles that will do the best job."

Then the researchers looked at two kinds of iron-oxide nanoparticles that contained different internal structures; one with stacked iron-xoide crystals and another based on a more haphazard arrangement. Both types of nanoparticles belong to an altering magnetic field. Yet researchers found that the one with a neater stack required a stronger field, as well, to heat up.

Different responses were based on different sizes and shapes within the particles. For instance, while many of the regions can hold "magnetic moments" with uniformity that place them in the same direction, the regions proved to move in an awkward and "misaligned" way. Researchers said they believe this rather unexplained behavior may explain the particles' strong response to a magnetic field.

"Materials often behave unexpectedly on the nanoscale, and here we have another example of that. We expect it will help design better cancer treatments. A localized cancer could be treated with nanoparticles that give out lots of heat right away because the field can be focused on a small region," Dennis added.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

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