Magnetic-mediated hyperthermia for cancer treatment:Research progress and clinical trials

Research progress and frontiers of magnetic-mediated hyperthermia （MMH） are presented, along with clinical trials in Germany, the US, Japan, and China. Special attention is focused on MMH mediated by magnetic nanoparticles, and multifunctional magnetic devices for cancer multimodality treatment are also introduced.

Characterizing Thermal Augmentation of Convection-Enhanced Drug Delivery with the Fiberoptic Microneedle Device

Convection-enhanced delivery （CED） is a promising technique leveraging pressure-driven flow to increase penetration of infused drugs into interstitial spaces. We have developed a fiberoptic microneedle device for inducing local sub-lethal hyperthermia to further improve CED drug distribution volumes, and this study seeks to quantitatively characterize this approach in agarose tissue phantoms. Infusions of dye were conducted in 0.6% （w/w） agarose tissue phantoms with isothermal conditions at 15 ℃, 20℃, 25 ℃, and 30 ℃. Infusion metrics were quantified using a custom shadowgraphy setup and image- processing algorithm. These data were used to build an empirical predictive temporal model of distribution volume as a function of phantom temperature. A second set of proof- of-concept experiments was conducted to evaluate a novel fiberoptic device capable of generating local photothermal heating during fluid infusion. The isothermal infusions showed a positive correlation between temperature and distribution volume, with the volume at 30℃ showing a 7-fold increase at 100 min over the 15 ℃ isothermal case. Infusions during photothermal heating （1064 nm at 500 mW） showed a similar effect with a 3.5-fold increase at 4 h over the control （0 mW）. These results and analyses serve to provide insight into and characterization of heat-mediated enhancement of volumetric dispersal.

Adriamycin Thermotherapy through the Hepatic Artery Using VX2 Carcinoma in Rabbit Liver as a Model

OBJECTIVE It has been reported that heating can enhance sensitivity of rabbit VX2 cells to adriamycin and increase the intracellular concentration of adriamycin. This study was designed to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of interventional hyperthermia and interventional thermochemotherapy on VX2 carcinoma in rabbit liver. METHODS VX2 carcinoma cells were surgically implanted into the right liver lobe of 60 male New Zealand white rabbits, which were randomly divided into 4 groups (15 per group). The 4 groups (designated as 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively) were injected with 10 ml of the following via the hepatic artery: physiological saline (37℃); adriamycin (37℃); physiological saline (60℃); adriamycin (60℃). One week later, the tumor volume, serum level of aspartate transaminase (AST) and the survival of the rabbits bearing VX2 were observed and compared among the different treated groups. RESULTS The tumor growth rate in group 4 (ADM 60℃) (0.53±0.21)% was significantly lower than that in group 1 (3.48±1.17)%, in group 2 (1.09±0.26)% and group 3 (3.32±1.28)% (P<0.05, P<0.05, P<0.01, respectively). The days of survival days for group 4 (87.0±2.0) were significantly more than that in group 1 (40.0±3.0). Group 4 showed a significantly higher increase in serum AST compared to group 1 (P<0.05), but without significant differences compared to the other groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Adriamycin treatment at 60℃ significantly deceased the tumor growth, prolonged the survival period and resulted in reversible liver damage.