Development of a Personalised Device for Systemic Magnetic Drug Targeting to Brain Tumours

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Oncology
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Delivering therapies to deep brain tumors (BT) presents significant clinical challenges.
• Magnetic drug targeting (MDT) offers a potential solution for direct and rapid drug delivery to BT.
• Existing methods face limitations in achieving effective drug concentrations within tumors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel magnetic device for targeted drug delivery to brain tumors.
• To assess the efficacy of MDT using magnetised Temozolomide (TMZmag+) in preclinical brain tumor models.
• To demonstrate the scalability of the magnetic device for potential human application.

Main Methods:

• Development of a neodymium magnet array (0.7T) for murine models and a scalable device (1.1T) for human use.
• Utilisation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) (<50nm) for tracking and drug delivery.
• Intravenous administration of MNP and TMZmag+ in mice with established brain tumors.

Main Results:

• The magnetic device successfully trapped MNP up to 0.8cm in a fluidic system and guided them into mouse brains.
• MDT with TMZmag+ significantly reduced tumor growth and extended mouse survival to 48 days.
• The 1.1T device demonstrated MNP trapping at distances up to 5cm under flow conditions.

Conclusions:

• MDT using the developed magnetic device is a viable strategy for targeted drug delivery to brain tumors.
• The technology shows potential for improving therapeutic outcomes in patients with brain tumors.
• Further development and clinical translation of this MDT system are warranted.