Rotating nanoparticles cause cancer cells to self-destruct

Magnetically controlled nanoparticles which force tumour cells to self-destruct could form part of future cancer treatment, say researchers in Sweden. The team from the University of Lund have designed a unique dynamic magnetic field (DMF) generator that can induce rotational movements of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The technique offers an alternative to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, by attacking tumour cells and avoiding healthy ones. “The clever thing about the technique is that we can target selected cells without harming surrounding tissue,” said Professor Erik Renström. “There are many ways to kill cells, but this method is contained and remote-controlled.” “Chemotherapy can also affect healthy cells in the body, and it therefore has serious side-effects. Radiotherapy can also affect healthy tissue around the tumour,” said Enming Zhang, one of the first authors on the study published in ACS Nano. “Our technique on the other hand, is able to attack tumour cells.” The technique involves getting nanoparticles inside cells to bind to lysosomes, which are responsible for breaking down foreign substances which have entered the cell, as well as the whole cell during apoptosis. Once inside cancer cells, the iron oxide nanoparticles are exposed to a magnetic field and begin to rotate in a way that causes the lysosome s to start destroying cells. The researchers covalently conjugated SPIONs with antibodies targeting the lysosomal protein marker LAMP1 (LAMP1-SPION). They proposed that forces created by the generation of incomplete rotation of the conjugates would cause membrane permeabilisation, leakage of lysosomal contents into the cytoplasm, and induce apoptosis. They found that activation of rotations by the LAMP1-SPIONs bound to lysosomes resulted in rapid decrease in size and number of lysosomes, attributable to tearing of the lysosomal membrane by the force of the rotationally activated LAMP1-SPIONs. “The beauty of this concept is that you don’t produce any heat and this means that you induce programmed cell death or apoptosis, and this kills the cells without creating too much damage to surrounding tissue.” Dynamic Magnetic Fields Remote-Control Apoptosis via Nanoparticle Rotation Professor Renström speaking about his work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vos0QW2Y