Characterizations of drug carrying magnetic nanoparticles for tumor therapy: biological outcome and first immunological aspects

S. Dürr¹ - R. Tietze¹ - S. Lyer¹ - C. Janko² - E. Schreiber¹ - J. Mann¹ - R. Turcu³ - K. Gitter⁴ - S. Odenbach⁴ - S. Vasylyev⁵ - M. Herrmann² - W. Peukert⁵ - C. Alexiou¹

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Section for Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine (Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung-Professorship), University Hospital Erlangen, Germany
² Department of Internal Medicine 3, University Hospital Erlangen, Germany
³ National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
⁴ Chair of Magnetofluiddynamics, TU Dresden, Germany
⁵ Institute of Particle Technology, University Erlangen-Nuremberg

Abstract
Nanosized magnetic drug carriers offer a splendid prospect for directed drug application. The increased drug concentration in cancer tissue reached for this kind of application enables therapeutic effects on tumors that cannot be achieved using conventional chemotherapeutic treatment. Characterizing the drug targeting system and its behavior {\sl in vitro} is necessary for understanding the biological outcome. In our studies, IR-spectroscopy shows covalent binding of the biocompatible fatty acid layer. Although binding of mitoxantrone (MTO) to particles is hardly defined, considerable amounts of drug can be carried by nanoparticles. Furthermore, the nanosized drug carrier complex has to be investigated due to its biological outcome. Real-time cell analysis is useful to observe the therapeutic particles concerning their outcome in cell culture time-resolved up to several days. First experiments in concordance to a conventional assay show that the effectivity of nanoparticle bound MTO in cell culture is higher than treatment with pure MTO. A preliminary study demonstrates that the burden of the immune system is reduced by Magnetic Drug Targeting (MDT) vs. conventional chemotherapy. For a better understanding of MDT for cancer treatment, further studies have to be done to explain especially the binding behavior of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to the respective chemotherapeutic agent. Figs 6, Refs 13.