Glass-coated ferromagnetic microwire-induced magnetic hyperthermia for in vitro cancer cell treatment

Limitations in effectiveness and the invasive nature of current cancer treatment options emphasize the need for further clinical advancements. Among other approaches, targeted hyperthermia is as a new strategy aimed at targeting cancerous cells to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy or cytotoxic drugs. However, the testing of magnetic vehicles has mainly focused on the use of nanoparticles. In this work, Fe₇₇B₁₀Si₁₀C₃ glass-coated amorphous magnetic microwires were assessed for the first time as magnetic vehicles with high potential for the localized heating of osteosarcoma cells by means of an AC magnetic field. The results from the in vitro assays performed inside a microfluidic device demonstrated the ability of these magnetic microwires to induce malignant cell death. Exposing the system to different magnetic fields for less than 1 h provoked a reduction up to 89% of the osteosarcoma cell population, whereas healthy myoblastoma cells remained nearly unaffected. The proposed technology demonstrates in vitro the effectiveness of these microwires as vehicles for targeted magnetic hyperthermia.