Microwave-assisted delivery of an anticancer drug to cancer cells

Abstract

Exposure of MCF-7 breast and PC-3 prostate cancer cells to 10 W microwaves at 2.45 GHz increased their uptake of doxorubicin from media by almost 100%, concomitantly increasing cell death, while microwave exposure alone had no cellular toxicity.

Uptake of nanoparticles from sunscreen physical filters into cells arising from increased environmental microwave radiation: increased potential risk of the use of sunscreens to human health

“…Even though the frequencies and power densities may have been different in the latter two studies [26,27], they nonetheless showed similar tendencies. Along similar lines, Mazinani and coworkers [28] reported that the uptake of anticancer drugs, such as doxorubicin, by cells was promoted by exposure to non-lethal microwaves at a microwave output power of 10 W (note this represents the output power of the microwave source and not the actual power suffered by the cells when exposed to the microwaves), which may have been significantly stronger than the microwave power used herein at the cells (2.7 mW cm −2 ). Note that heat generated when a sample is exposed to microwave radiation can be prevented by cooling the system.…”

“…Note that heat generated when a sample is exposed to microwave radiation can be prevented by cooling the system. Although the methods of Mazinani et al [28] were somewhat…”

Unusual microwave heating of water in reverse micellar solution

“…Thus, this study may provide a new aspect for understanding responses of various aqueous mediums with nanoconfined water, such as organisms and foods, to MW irradiation. For example, much attention has been paid to biological effects due to MW irradiation [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . Non-thermal effects are often proposed for explaining phenomena such as changes in microorganisms' activities [14][15][16][17] and in cell membrane permeabilities 18 .…”

“…Moreover, MW synthesis of single-crystal porous transition-metal nitrides demonstrated that hydrated metal oxides are a new class of MW absorbing media, suggesting that nanoscale lattice water in the sample plays a crucial role in MW heating of the samples 13 . Another example is MW irradiation of organisms [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and fresh foods 21 with the aims of drying, thawing, microbial inactivation, therapy, and so on, where intracellular water is ubiquitously confined on the nanoscale owing to the so-called molecular crowding 22 . Here, a fundamental question is raised on whether nanoconfined water generates heat in the same way as liquid (bulk) water.…”

Exposure to microwave irradiation at constant culture temperature slows the growth ofEscherichia coliDE3 cells, leading to modified proteomic profiles

“…18 Most recently, we showed that uptake of the anticancer compound doxorubicin by PC-3 and human breast cancer MCF-7 cells was signicantly enhanced when the cells were exposed to nonlethal microwave irradiation. 19 In the present study, we extended our investigation to probe the inuence of microwave exposure on bacterial growth while the culture temperature was maintained constant. While many reports show no differences in microorganisms exposed to microwave irradiation as compared with controls, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] there is also literature showing that microorganisms respond differently to microwave irradiation of various frequencies, leading to altered growth rate or metabolic activities.…”