How Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles Are Used in the Targeting of Cancer Cells, Essay Example

The field of nanotechnology has advanced in recent years, offering scientists and researchers the ability to explore human and animal cells’ insides and develop novel diagnostics and therapeutic uses. The field of cancer treatment has immensely benefited from nanotechnology, enabling the targeting of cancer cells for highly localized delivery of drugs. The other use case of nanotechnology is its study of the cell uptake of compounds found in the food chain and how this affects health in specific animal habitats and human populations. Iron oxide particles (NPs) have been found to hold great promise as therapeutic agents and diagnostic agents in cancer treatment. The properties of NPs are very attractive for simultaneous delivery of drugs, localized hypothermia and molecular imaging. Studies such as Upadhyay (2014) have explored the various therapeutic uses of nanoparticles and related technologies such as the delivery of biomolecules such as chimeric peptides to deep tissue cells in locations such as the tumor sites in the brain.

One common nanoparticle that is widely used is iron oxide nanoparticles in magnetically directed drug delivery. Estelrich et al., for instance, cite studies by Freeman et al., which found that iron elements could be moved to particular points in the body or tissues through the vascular system using a magnetic field. When drugs are combined with these iron-oxide NPs, they can be safely delivered to the desired areas of the body non-invasively (Mirkin et al., 2015; Oostingh et al., 2011). This novel method finds use-cases in cancer treatment, for instance. This essay explores four studies that highlight how nanoparticles are used to treat cancers and tumors.

The use of NPs in breast cancer research is documented by researchers such as Chaves et al. (2017), Estelrich et al. (2015) and Harmon et al. (2015). Chaves et al. studied the uptake mechanism of MRC NPs metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancer cells. The study compared the uptake mechanism in cancer cells and non-cancer cells, and the researchers found that MRC NPs uptake was more effective in breast cancer cells than in normal cells. The study by Chavez et al. tested existing immunological and toxicological in vitro assays and compared the test effects of nanoparticles on immune responses. The nanoparticles used in the study were metal (oxide) particles.

Hermon et al. (2015) conducted a study to develop a leptin peptide receptor antagonist that links to nanoparticles and then study its effects on breast cancer cells. The study combined the leptin antagonist LPrA2 via 1-Ethyl-3-3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDAC) to MNC NPs to enhance its effectiveness. The researchers analyzed the effect of the leptin antagonist on human triple-negative breast cancer cells. They found that iron-oxide nanoparticles may be effective adjuvants in treating breast cancer using chemotherapy.

In another study, Karakatsanis et al., 2017, studied the application of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles in sentinel node biopsy (SNB) in breast cancer treatment. The study aimed to evaluate the application of SPIO as a sole trader and how effective it is when used as a tracer for targeted cell contents in the preoperative setting. The study design was a prospective cohort study conducted in two hospitals in Sweden with 338 breast cancer patients. The study found that the use of SPIO as a tracer works as well as standard methods and that the non-invasive nature of this method improves performance.

A similar study was conducted by Kossatz et al., 2015 who studied the application of nanoparticles to improve magnetic hyperthermia of breast cancer cells. Other studies such as IV et al., 2015 found that iron oxide nanoparticles display high heating potentials and can be functionalized inside cells using a chemotherapy agent to achieve higher cell death rates. In the Kossatz study, MRC NPs, particularly MF66, were functionalized electrostatically with other nanoparticles, and their efficacy was tested on breast cancer cells. The study summarily found iron oxide nanoparticles to improve magnetic hyperthermia.

In conclusion, these studies highlight the revolutionary use cases of nanoparticles in developing treatments and therapies that target specific cell contents. The studies highlight how iron oxide nanoparticles can be conducted with other nanoparticles or other therapies to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs and therapies to cure brain tumors and breast cancer cells.

Works Cited

Chaves, Natalia L., Irina Estrela-Lopis, Julia Böttner, Claudio AP Lopes, Bruna C. Guido, Aparecido R. de Sousa, and Sônia N. Báo. “Exploring cellular uptake of iron oxide nanoparticles associated with rhodium citrate in breast cancer cells.” International journal of nanomedicine 12 (2017): 5511. doi:10.2147/IJN.S141582

Estelrich J, Escribano E, Queralt J, Busquets MA. Iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetically-guided and magnetically-responsive drug delivery. Int J Mol Sci. 2015;16(4):8070–8101.

Harmon, Tia L., Adriana Harbuzariu, Lily Yang, and Ruben R. Gonzalez-Perez. “Iron oxide nanoparticle-leptin receptor antagonist: a novel targeted adjuvant therapy for triple-negative breast cancer.” (2015): 3909-3909.

Iv, Michael, Nicholas Telischak, Dan Feng, Samantha J. Holdsworth, Kristen W. Yeom, and Heike E. Daldrup-Link. “Clinical applications of iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging of brain tumors.” Nanomedicine 10, no. 6 (2015): 993-1018.

Karakatsanis A, Christiansen P, Fischer L, et al. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for sentinel node detection in patients with breast cancer: experience from seven centres in Sweden and Denmark. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2016;42(9): S83.

Kossatz, Susanne, Julia Grandke, Pierre Couleaud, Alfonso Latorre, Antonio Aires, Kieran Crosbie-Staunton, Robert Ludwig et al. “Efficient treatment of breast cancer xenografts with multi functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles combining magnetic hyperthermia and anti-cancer drug delivery.” Breast Cancer Research 17, no. 1 (2015): 1-17.

Mirkin CA, Meade TJ, Petrosko SH, Stegh AH. Nanotechnology-Based Precision Tools for the Detection and Treatment of Cancer. Heidelberg: Springer; 2015.

Oostingh, Gertie J., Eudald Casals, Paola Italiani, Renato Colognato, René Stritzinger, Jessica Ponti, Tobias Pfaller et al. “Problems and challenges in the development and validation of human cell-based assays to determine nanoparticle-induced immunomodulatory effects.” Particle and fibre toxicology 8, no. 1 (2011): 1-21.https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-8977-8-8

Upadhyay, Ravi Kant. “Drug delivery systems, CNS protection, and the blood-brain barrier.” BioMed research international 2014 (2014).