In the last decades, the progress done in the preparation of magnetic nanoparticles has renewed the interest of applying magnetic induced hyperthermia when using nanoscale probes. At the same time, the local heat effects observed at the nanoparticle surface have pushed towards the use of magnetic nanoparticles as drug delivery tolls with heat triggered release mechanism.A wide variety of iron-based nanocrystals produced by thermal decomposition method, a non-hydrolytic approach, have been reported and they were here studied for what concerns their heat efficiency under alternating magnetic field (AMF) exposure. We found that, iron oxide nanocubes of 19-35 nm edge, cobalt ferrite nanocrystals at different shapes and cobalt fractions and iron oxide-gold dimers, made of a gold sphere sharing a small interface with iron oxide nanoparticles, are all efficient materials in terms of specific adsorption rate values under AMF of field amplitudes and frequencies that are biological safe for patients. Many efforts were also devoted by us to coat those nanoparticles with thermo-responsive linkers or thermo-responsive polymer shell and then attaching/encapsulating doxorubicin as drug agents for achieving heat-mediated chemotherapy.Finally, in a comprehensive study we have designed and functionalized iron oxide nanoarticles with specific antibody fragments (AFRA) to target ovarian cancer cells. The in vitro and in vivo studies carried out in collaboration with some of the partners of the FP7 Magnifyco project, have allowed to elucidate the effect of the targeting in relation to the nanoparticle size. Remarkable, the in vivo ovarian cancer tumor targeting has been also demonstrated with 20 nm particles. An overview of these results will be presented. Besides the partial success achieved in some of those studies, much can be learned from our experience.

Iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic mediated hyperthermia, controlled drug delivery and ovarian cancer tumor targeting

248th National Meeting (2014)

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