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Georgios Kasparis

Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCL, UK

This STSM was between the Department of Physics and Astronomy of UCL, UK and bioengineering department of Bar-Ilan university, Israel. The aim was to conjugate bioactive molecules on magnetic nanoparticles for enhanced accumulation at malignant tissue.

Discriminating between healthy and malignant cells is at the frontiers of cancer research. Actively targeting malignant cells occurs when a targeting moiety is present on the cancer-fighting entity. Such molecules include some sugars, vitamins, antibodies, aptamers etc.

Hyperthermia, the fourth leg of cancer treatment, exploits the ability of magnetic nanoparticles to release heat when placed in an alternating magnetic field. The heat released can be used to either kill cells directly, control the release of drugs and/or sensitise cells for coming radiotherapy. One of the issues with these types of therapies is to get sufficient amount of crystals on the site of interest to achieve a beneficial effect. For this purpose, we attempted antibody and sugar conjugation to single and multi-core crystals, in-house made and commercially available, with short, medium and long coatings. All samples have been tested on an A431 cell line and the concentration of iron was determined using flame spectroscopy. All results were compared to gold nanoparticle antibody conjugates (expertise of hosting institution). Although results varied with some coatings being up-taken more efficiently compared to their antibody/sugar conjugate analogues, there was a lively discussion and gained inside on the importance of the spacer used between the surface of the particles and the bioactive itself. With the gained knowledge on conjugation methods and critical aspects of it we can continue towards the development of actively targeting magnetic nanoparticles and make this therapy a viable alternative.