Evaluation of magnetic nanoparticles for magnetic fluid hyperthermia.

Background: Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) generate heat when exposed to an alternating magnetic field. Consequently, MNPs are used for magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) for cancer treatment, and have been shown to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment in clinical trials. A downfall of current MFH treatment is the inability to deliver sufficient heat to the tumor due to: insufficient amounts of MNPs, unequal distribution of MNPs throughout the tumor, or heat loss to the surrounding environment. Objective: In this study, the objective was to identify MNPs with high heating efficiencies quantified by their specific absorption rate (SAR). Methods: A panel of 31 commercially available MNPs were evaluated for SAR in two different AMFs. Additionally, particle properties including iron content, hydrodynamic diameter, core diameter, magnetic diameter, magnetically dead layer thickness, and saturation mass magnetization were investigated. Results: High SAR MNPs were identified. For SAR calculations, the initial slope, corrected slope, and Box-Lucas methods were used and validated using a graphical residual analysis, and the Box-Lucas method was shown to be the most accurate. Other particle properties were identified and examined for correlations with SAR values. Positive correlations of particle properties with SAR were found, including a strong correlation for the magnetically dead layer thickness. Conclusions: This work identified high SAR MNPs for hyperthermia, and provides insight into properties which correlate with SAR which will be valuable for synthesis of next-generation MNPs. SAR calculation methods must be standardized, and this work provides an in-depth analysis of common calculation methods.

Dendritic Cell-Activating Magnetic Nanoparticles Enable Early Prediction of Antitumor Response with Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Cancer vaccines initiate antitumor responses in a subset of patients, but the lack of clinically meaningful biomarkers to predict treatment response limits their development. Here, we design multifunctional RNA-loaded magnetic liposomes to initiate potent antitumor immunity and function as an early biomarker of treatment response. These particles activate dendritic cells (DCs) more effectively than electroporation, leading to superior inhibition of tumor growth in treatment models. Inclusion of iron oxide enhances DC transfection and enables tracking of DC migration with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We show that T2*-weighted MRI intensity in lymph nodes is a strong correlation of DC trafficking and is an early predictor of antitumor response. In preclinical tumor models, MRI-predicted "responders" identified 2 days after vaccination had significantly smaller tumors 2-5 weeks after treatment and lived 73% longer than MRI-predicted "nonresponders". These studies therefore provide a simple, scalable nanoparticle formulation to generate robust antitumor immune responses and predict individual treatment outcome with MRI.

DNA Aptamer Assembly as a Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor Agonist.

Controlling receptor-mediated processes in cells is paramount in many research areas. The activity of small molecules and growth factors is difficult to control and can lead to off-target effects through the activation of nonspecific receptors as well as binding affinity to nonspecific cell types. In this study, we report the development of a molecular trigger in the form of a divalent nucleic acid aptamer assembly toward vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2). The assembly binds to VEGFR2 and functions as a receptor agonist with targeted receptor binding, promoting receptor phosphorylation, activation of the downstream Akt pathway, upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and endothelial cell capillary tube formation. The agonist action we report makes this aptamer construct a promising strategy to control VEGFR2-mediated cell signaling.

Biocompatibility evaluation of porous ceria foams for orthopedic tissue engineering.

Ceria ceramics have the unique ability to protect cells from free radical-induced damage, making them materials of interest for biomedical applications. To expand upon the understanding of the potential of ceria as a biomaterial, porous ceria, fabricated via direct foaming, was investigated to assess its biocompatibility and its ability to scavenge free radicals. A mouse osteoblast (7F2) cell line was cultured with the ceria foams to determine the extent of the foams' toxicity. Toxicity assessments indicate that mouse osteoblasts cultured directly on the ceria scaffold for 72 h did not show a significant (p > 0.05) increase in toxicity, but rather show comparable toxicity to cells cultured on porous 45S5 Bioglass. The in vitro inflammatory response elicited from porous ceria foams was measured as a function of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) secreted from a human monocytic leukemia cell line. Results indicate that the ceria foams do not cause a significant inflammatory response, eliciting a response of 27.1 ± 7.1 pg mL(-1) of TNF-α compared to 36.3 ± 5.8 pg mL(-1) from cells on Bioglass, and 20.1 ± 2.9 pg mL(-1) from untreated cells. Finally, we report cellular toxicity in response to free radicals from tert-butyl hydroperoxide with and without foamed ceria. Our preliminary results show that the foamed ceria is able to decrease the toxic effect of induced oxidative stress. Collectively, this study demonstrates that foamed ceria scaffolds do not activate an inflammatory response, and show potential free radical scavenging ability, thus they have promise as an orthopedic biomaterial.