Magnetic nanoparticles are able to do both diagnosis and therapy, identifying the individual tumor cells: is the perspective theranostics
Magnetic nanoparticles are able to do both diagnosis and therapy, identifying the individual tumor cells: is the perspective ‘theranostics’ disclosed by a joint research of the University of Milan, Pavia and Zaragoza presented today in Rome at the tenth International Conference on Nanostructured Materials (Nano 2010) of which he is chairman Dino Fiorani, director of the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council (CNR-ISM), along with Elizabeth Agostinelli, a researcher at CNR-ISM, and Enrico Traversa, University of Tor Vergata.
This study was partly tested in vivo, was conducted by Alexander Lascialfari, a research associate of the National Research Council and professor at the Universities of Milan and Pavia, and Fernando Palacio Institute of Materials Science of the University Spanish. “Our group studies the medical use of magnetic nanoparticles coated with a polymer such as multi-functional entity, namely, the ability to perform both diagnostic and therapeutic action: the so-called theranostics,” says Lascialfari. “The magnetic particles can be used as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging to increase the image contrast and allow better detection of cancer. Thanks to the cellular scale resolution, it is expected that further developments in cancer prevention technique of resonance allow the detection of cancer when it was developed only in a few cells, which is impossible with the current diagnostic techniques. ”
But not only. With regard to the therapy, during the experiments the magnetic particles were used for the magnetic hyperthermia, a technique based on heating by applying a weak alternating magnetic field of appropriate frequency, “says the researcher. “Cancer cells, being much more sensitive to heat than healthy, are destroyed when they reach a local temperature between 42 and 47 ° C. Our research has led to control the heat transferred to the cancer cells and to measure, for now vitro, the temperature inside them. ”
Finally, “an appropriate polymer coating can be anchored to the particle of medicines, which may be issued in time,” said Lascialfari. “These magnetic particles, in other words, identify the location of the tumor cells selectively by attaching them, via antibodies, monitor the temperature change by acting as local thermometers and release the drug locally in a position to eradicate the tumor.”
The research relies on the collaboration of Italian and other European partners, such as the National Interuniversity Consortium for Science and Technology of Materials (INSTM), the University of Montpellier, Verona, Rome, Pisa and Lecce, the Research Centre of the company Colorobbia Sovigliana.
However this is not the only application in medicine and biotechnology presented at the tenth edition of the Conference, which for the first time was held in Italy, at the CNR and the University La Sapienza in Rome, where they were discussed latest developments in the various fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology (energy, electronics, information storage …). “It is of particular interest, for example, the application of a weak alternating magnetic field for a few minutes, without producing heating of the brain tumors on which surgery is more difficult, since the destruction of the membranes of cancer cells also damage the heart,” says Dino Fiorani. “In experiments carried out by Samuel Bader of the Center on Nanostructured Materials Argonne National Laboratory, are used on animals packets of magnetic particles coated with gold thickness of a few tens of nanometers and a diameter of one micron.”
Also in the field of oncology is of particular interest to the research of the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, which is headed by Giorgio Margaritondo. “The new x-ray sources based on the ‘synchrotron radiation’, including those of Frascati and Trieste, have allowed the internal x-ray of individual cells,” says the Director-ISM-CNR. These techniques allow direct observation of real-time interaction between nanoparticles and cells, revealing new phenomena of potential importance for diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Giorgio Margaritondo, along with Yeukuang HWU and I Je Jung, Taiwan has shown that gold, proverbially passive element for biological systems like the human body, but becomes highly active in the form of nano particles and were specifically discovered phenomena Selective penetration and accumulation in cancer cells. This accumulation, which facilitates the detection of X-ray cells, can be used to activate anti-cancer drugs and often directly cause the death of cancer cells. ”
New applications of “cylindrical carbon nanotubes instead of facing innovative solutions for the future therapy of neurodegenerative diseases or injuries,” said Fiorani. “The Centre of Excellence for Nanotechnology, University of Trieste, led by Maurizio Prato, has developed cutting-edge techniques through which it can integrate nanotubes with neurons in vitro and to stimulate neuronal connections.” “In practice, says Maurizio Prato, trying to understand the functioning of hybrid structures for the development of new implantable control the generation of neural signals and enhance the formation of synapses. It is a project of basic research but some aspects could have future applications, such as the ability to develop bridges which can help the damaged neuronal plasticity. ”
The need for selective engineering of nanoparticles for therapeutic spoke Marco Caruso, University of Melbourne. “In relation to the specific therapeutic use and the type of cancer cells,” says Marco Caruso, “the particles must have an appropriate shape, size, structure and functionalization with specific antibodies.” “This is definitely the best example,” said Fiorani, “the inherently multidisciplinary nature of nanoscience, as it demonstrates the necessity of the work of a research team of chemists, physicists, biologists, doctors and engineers. The complementary role of each of it is essential to create and use engineered nanoparticles mentioned by Marco Caruso. ”
