Zhang Xinyu, Du Yongxing, Qin Ling, Li Baoshan, Wu Qiong, Meng Xianwei
Laboratory of Controllable Preparation and Application of Nanomaterials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 29 East Road Zhongguancun, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
School of Digtial and Intelligence Industry, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China.
J Mater Chem B. 2025 Jan 2;13(2):524-535. doi: 10.1039/d4tb02319f.
When microwave hyperthermia (MWH) array antenna technology is used to treat breast cancer, how to effectively target and heat deep tumors and reduce thermal damage to healthy tissues is still a challenge in clinical applications. In this study, the synergistic MWH effect of conformal-array antennas (CAA) and a novel microwave-thermal-sensitive nanomaterial (MTSN) was investigated for the treatment of subcutaneous deep breast cancer. At the beginning of the study, the thermal damage score was used to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the CAA. It was found that although array antenna technology can achieve effective heating of deep tumors, its damage to healthy tissues is unacceptable. Consequently, we developed a novel MTSN, ZIF-8@HA, whose unique structure significantly enhanced the absorption of MW energy and MW thermal conversion efficiency in the local tumor region. The MW thermal conversion efficiency of ZIF-8@HA achieved was as high as 46.46% in MW heating experiments. In the phantom that simulates the electromagnetic environment of the human body, the microwave-thermal sensitization (MTS) effect is also significant, and the reduction in the average thermal damage score of healthy tissues by more than 10% was verified through measurements using the coaxial probe method and COMSOL simulations. Cellular experiments confirmed that the combination of ZIF-8@HA and MW irradiation could significantly reduce the survival rate of tumor cells. In addition, cross-tissue MW heating experiments revealed the advantages of ZIF-8@HA combined with the CAA. Finally, phantom experiments confirmed that the synergistic use of the CAA with ZIF-8@HA significantly accelerated the local heating rate of deep tumors, reduced the time required for the tumor region to achieve 100% thermal damage, and effectively minimized the thermal damage to healthy tissues.
当采用微波热疗（MWH）阵列天线技术治疗乳腺癌时，如何有效靶向并加热深部肿瘤，同时减少对健康组织的热损伤，仍是临床应用中的一项挑战。在本研究中，研究了共形阵列天线（CAA）与一种新型微波热敏纳米材料（MTSN）协同的MWH效应，用于治疗皮下深部乳腺癌。在研究开始时，使用热损伤评分来评估CAA的治疗效果。结果发现，尽管阵列天线技术能够实现对深部肿瘤的有效加热，但其对健康组织的损伤却令人难以接受。因此，我们开发了一种新型的MTSN，即ZIF-8@HA，其独特结构显著增强了局部肿瘤区域对微波能量的吸收以及微波热转换效率。在微波加热实验中，ZIF-8@HA实现的微波热转换效率高达46.46%。在模拟人体电磁环境的体模中，微波热敏化（MTS）效应也很显著，通过使用同轴探头法测量以及COMSOL模拟验证，健康组织的平均热损伤评分降低了10%以上。细胞实验证实，ZIF-8@HA与微波照射相结合可显著降低肿瘤细胞的存活率。此外，跨组织微波加热实验揭示了ZIF-8@HA与CAA联合使用的优势。最后，体模实验证实，CAA与ZIF-8@HA协同使用可显著加快深部肿瘤的局部加热速率，缩短肿瘤区域达到100%热损伤所需的时间，并有效将对健康组织的热损伤降至最低。
