(M1530-02-09) Design of Citric Acid Coated Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Lung Cancer

Purpose: Lung cancer mainly non-small cell lung cancer; NSCLC is the largest reason of cancer-related deaths. Poor response rates and survival rates with existing treatments evidently demonstrate the crucial need to discover an effective treatment for NSCLC. Magnetic hyperthermia is considered as non-invasive technique for tumor ablation that relies on the generation of heat by magnetic materials like superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONPs) when exposed to an alternating magnetic field. The purpose of this research is to formulate citric acid-coated nintedanib-loaded SPIONPs to increase the cytotoxic effect in the treatment of lung cancer through hyperthermia.

Methods: Magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized and evaluated for dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cytotoxicity study using A549 cell line.

Results: The results showed that citric acid-coated nintedanib-loaded SPIONPs (NE-SPIONPs) exhibited desirable size and negative charge. The room temperature superparamagnetic behavior of citric acid-coated and drug-loaded nanoparticles was studied by vibrating sample magnetometer which shows saturation magnetization of 65.64 emu/g and 22.09 emu/g respectively. The results of XPS confirmed the formation of Iron Oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles. The biocompatibility of the carrier (blank nanoparticles) was also evaluated by hemocompatibility experiments. The blank nanoparticles were not cytotoxic and did not cause hemolysis. TEM image exhibited spherical shaped particles. The nanoparticles also exhibited fluorescence when observed under invert microscope which can be used for imaging purposes (Figure 2). In vitro cytotoxicity study showed dose-dependent activity of drug-loaded nanoparticles for human lung cancer cells. The study's findings showed that citric acid-coated nintedanib-loaded SPIONPs had a significant cytotoxic effect in the lung cancer cell line.

Conclusion: The designed SPIONPs indicate the potential of NE-SPIONPs for the effective delivery of NE to lung cancer.

References: Angelopoulou A, Kolokithas-Ntoukas A, Fytas C, Avgoustakis K. Folic Acid-Functionalized, Condensed Magnetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Delivery of Doxorubicin to Tumor Cancer Cells Overexpressing the Folate Receptor. ACS Omega. 2019;4(26):22214-22227.

Figure 1: XPS wide scan of citric acid coated NE-SPIONPs

Figure 2: NE-SPIONPs showing fluorescence property