Magnetic hyperthermia therapy: An emerging modality of cancer treatment in combination with radiotherapy

Magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT) involves heat generation using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in response to an externally applied alternating current magnetic field. These MNPs can be specifically targeted to the tumor site for homogenous heating. Compared to MHT, conventional methods of HT cause heterogeneous heating of tumor and thus poor efficacy of cancer treatment. MHT has also been shown to effectively eliminate the highly chemo- and radio-resistant cancer stem cells in the tumor mass. Due to their diagnostic capability as well as heat-induced cancer cell killing ability, extensive research has been carried out to develop MNPs as potential cancer theranostic agent. The major focus of MNP research has been to design MNPs formulations for efficient targeting, increased colloidal stability, effective heat generation, and minimal inherent toxicity. A few recent MNPs formulations meet some of the required features and showed promising results in preclinical and clinical studies. HT applied through conventional modes has been combined with chemo- and radiotherapy, owing to its ability to increase oxygenation and drug supply due to vasodilation but has shown a limited success in clinic. However, a great hope has arisen from the MNPs to make combinatorial therapies more successful, not only because of the many advantages of MNPs mentioned but also due to their potential for targeted delivery of a range of anti-cancer drugs and radiosensitizing agents.