(119al) Analysis of Magnetic Field Effects on Generating Heat in Nanoparticle Solutions for the Development of a Hyperthermia-Based Cancer Therapy System

Magnetic
nanoparticles (MNPs) of certain compositions have unique properties in that
they can be heated by an AC magnetic field, up to a point limited by their
Curie temperature. These MNPs allow a novel approach for hyperthermia cancer therapy,
as they can be easily targeted to individual cells and tissues to localize the
therapy. Nanoparticles would be taken into cancerous cells through endocytosis
or attach to the surface of cancer cells. Magnetic fields applied from outside
the patient's body would then cause induction heating in the nanoparticles
thereby killing cancer cells by either hyperthermia (around 42-45 ^oC)
or thermoablation (by heating above 50 ^oC). The goal of this project
is to determine the magnetic field parameters' effects on heating nanoparticle
solutions.

In this
study, a custom-made induction chamber was used. The chamber applies a high AC voltage
to copper coils thereby creating an AC magnetic field with variable intensity (0-1300
Gauss), and at a range of frequencies (130-485 kHz).  The temperature of nanoparticles
placed within the coils was monitored using an infrared camera, and experiments
were carried out to investigate the effect of coil type, capacitance, frequency
modulation, position of sample, and field intensity. Tuning of these parameters
allows heating of the nanoparticle solutions to be optimized. Heating will also
vary based on particle compositions, concentration, sample size, and the
presence of salts and other solutes in the sample. The effective tuning of the
parameters will be needed to progress in this application with in vivo work
in the future.