Heated magnetic nanoparticles may be the future of eradicating cancer cells without harming healthy tissue, according to research from the University of Buffalo, USA. The nanoparticles strike tumours with significant heat under a low magnetic field.
Hao Zeng, Professor of Physics at Buffalo, said, ‘The main accomplishment of our work is the greatly enhanced heating performance of nanoparticles under low-field conditions suitable for clinical applications. The best heating power we obtained is close to the theoretical limit, greatly surpassing some of the best performing particles that other research teams have produced.’
Targeting technologies would first direct nanoparticles to tumours within the patient’s body. Exposure to an alternating magnetic field would prompt the particles’ magnetic orientation to flip back and forth hundreds of thousands of times a second, causing them to warm up as they absorb energy from the electromagnetic field and convert it to thermal energy.
Two particles have been tested – manganese-cobalt-ferrite and zinc ferrite. While the manganese particle reached maximum heating power under high magnetic fields, the biocompatible zinc ferrite was efficieny under an ultra-low field.
While this form of treatment, known as magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia, is not new, the Buffalo-designed particles are able to generate heat several times faster than the current standard.
