Duality of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy

Duality of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in Cancer Therapy: Amplification of Heating Efficiency by Magnetic Hyperthermia and Photothermal Bimodal Treatment.

Ana Espinosa, Riccardo Di Corato, Jelena Kolosnjaj-Tabi, Patrice Flaud, Teresa Pellegrino, and Claire Wilhelm
ACS Nano 10, 2436 (2016)

The pursuit of innovative, multifunctional, more efficient, and safer treatments is a major challenge in preclinical nanoparticle-mediated thermotherapeutic research. Here, we report that iron oxide nanoparticles have the dual capacity to act as both magnetic and photothermal agents. We further explore every key aspect of this magnetophotothermal approach, choosing iron oxide nanocubes for their high efficiency for the magnetic hyperthermia modality itself. In aqueous suspension, the nanocubes’ exposure to both: an alternating magnetic field and near-infrared laser irradiation (808 nm), defined as the DUAL-mode, amplifies the heating effect 2- to 5-fold by comparison with magnetic stimulation alone, yielding unprecedented heating powers (specific loss powers) up to 5000 W/g.