Application of hyperthermia induced by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in glioma treatment

Abstract

Gliomas are a group of heterogeneous primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors arising from the glial cells. Malignant gliomas account for a majority of malignant primary CNS tumors and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Glioblastoma is the most frequent and malignant glioma, and despite the recent advances in diagnosis and new treatment options, its prognosis remains dismal. New opportunities for the development of effective therapies for malignant gliomas are urgently needed. Magnetic hyperthermia (MHT), which consists of heat generation in the region of the tumor through the application of magnetic nanoparticles subjected to an alternating magnetic field (AMF), has shown positive results in both preclinical and clinical assays. The aim of this review is to assess the relevance of hyperthermia induced by magnetic nanoparticles in the treatment of gliomas and to note the possible variations of the technique and its implication on the effectiveness of the treatment. We performed an electronic search in the literature from January 1990 to October 2010, in various databases, and after application of the inclusion criteria we obtained a total of 15 articles. In vitro studies and studies using animal models showed that MHT was effective in the promotion of tumor cell death and reduction of tumor mass or increase in survival. Two clinical studies showed that MHT could be applied safely and with few side effects. Some studies suggested that mechanisms of cell death, such as apoptosis, necrosis, and antitumor immune response were triggered by MHT. Based on these data, we could conclude that MHT proved to be efficient in most of the experiments, and that the improvement of the nanocomposites as well as the AMF equipment might contribute toward establishing MHT as a promising tool in the treatment of malignant gliomas.

Carbon nanotubes in hyperthermia therapy

“…However, with recent refinements in technology, the role of such therapies should increase in the near future [26, 45, 46], and nanotechnology is playing a key role in these advances. Human clinical trials are ongoing for a gold nanoshell based photothermal cancer therapy (Id: NCT00848042 on ClinicalTrials.gov) and for iron oxide nanoparticle-based magnetic thermotherapy [47, 48]. Although the results of these studies are promising, there remains significant room to improve upon both the generation and localization of heat for thermal therapy.…”

Scaling laws at the nanosize: the effect of particle size and shape on the magnetism and relaxivity of iron oxide nanoparticle contrast agents

“…1 This property, known as hyperthermia, is especially sought after in cancer therapy. 6 Although it is difficult to tune MIONs so as to optimize both their relaxivities and hyperthermic capability simultaneously, in principle all MIONs are inherently both diagnostic (MRI contrast agents) and therapeutic (hyperthermia agents) in nature rendering them all, in essence, theranostic drugs. (3) In view of the recent toxicity concerns observed with gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents which are likely due to leaching of the gadolinium ion from the complex, 8, 9 the lower toxicity of iron oxide nanoparticles renders them a particularly attractive clinical alternative, especially for patients suffering from kidney damage.…”

In vitro biocompatibility study of sub-5 nm silica-coated magnetic iron oxide fluorescent nanoparticles for potential biomedical application

“…The superparamagnetic behaviour927 of small-sized nanoparticles can be used for attracting them by an external magnetic field to the tissue of interest thus allowing efficient magnetically mediated gene/drug targeting and/or hyperthermia28293031.…”