Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles platforms: Recent trends in cancer treatment

Disadvantages associated with using antidotes for certain diseases include nonspecificity, undesirable safety profiles, and side effects. For clinical use, additional characteristics such as uneven biodistribution, instability, and rapid degradation must be taken into account. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have been introduced as effective therapeutic agents in various treatment regimes. SPIONs represent an ideal remedy for the above problems owing to their biocompatibility and unique magnetic properties that make it possible to utilize SPIONs as drug delivery systems and imaging agents. In particular, SPIONs covered with polyethyleneimine (PEI), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and chitosan-coating showed increased specificity for tumor cells, enhanced transfection efficiency, and microenvironment-responsive properties. Using SPIONs for chemotherapy resolves the main problems of conventional therapies, such as poor cell uptake and multidrug resistance, through highly efficient loading and controlled delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs. The design of nanoparticles-doxorubicin complexes shows the remarkable potential of SPION conjugates to significantly lower resistance levels and increase therapeutic effectiveness against highly malignant cancers like glioblastoma. Apart from delivering drugs and genetic materials, SPIONs have great potential for accurate diagnostics and therapeutics in neuro-oncology. By using their magnetic cores, MRI contrast can be achieved, and targeting under the magnetic guidance becomes possible. Alternating magnetic field-induced hyperthermia provides the capability for selective tumor destruction without damaging adjacent neural cells. The selection of an appropriate synthetic approach, such as co-precipitation, thermal decomposition, microemulsion, and hydrothermal synthesis, affects the biodistribution, blood-brain barrier (BBB) crossing, safety profile, and performance of these nanoparticles as therapeutics.