Varalli London, Berlet Reed, Abenojar E C, McDaid John, Gascoigne David A, Bailes Julian, Aksenov Daniil P
Department of Radiology, Endeavor Health, Evanston, IL 60201, USA.
School of Medicine and Science, Rosalind Franklin University, North Chicago, IL 60064, USA.
Pharmaceutics. 2025 Apr 9;17(4):499. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics17040499.
Cancers of the central nervous system are particularly difficult to treat due to a variety of factors. Surgical approaches are impeded by the skull-an issue which is compounded by the severity of possible harm that can result from damage to the parenchymal tissue. As a result, chemotherapeutic agents have been the standard of care for brain tumors. While some drugs can be effective on a case-by-case basis, there remains a critical need to improve the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents for neurological cancers. Recently, advances in iron oxide nanoparticle research have highlighted how their unique properties could be leveraged to address the shortcomings of conventional therapeutics. Iron oxide nanoparticles combine the advantages of good biocompatibility, magnetic susceptibility, and functionalization via a range of coating techniques. Thus, iron oxide nanoparticles could be used in both the imaging of brain cancers with magnetic resonance imaging, as well as acting as trafficking vehicles across the blood-brain barrier for targeted drug delivery. Moreover, their ability to support minimally invasive therapies such as magnetic hyperthermia makes them particularly appealing for neuro-oncological applications, where precision and safety are paramount. In this review, we will outline the application of iron oxide nanoparticles in various clinical settings including imaging and drug delivery paradigms. Importantly, this review presents a novel approach of combining surface engineering and internal magnetic targeting for deep-seated brain tumors, proposing the surgical implantation of internal magnets as a next-generation strategy to overcome the limitations of external magnetic fields.
由于多种因素，中枢神经系统癌症特别难以治疗。手术方法受到颅骨的阻碍，而对实质组织造成损害可能导致的严重伤害又使这一问题更加复杂。因此，化疗药物一直是脑肿瘤的标准治疗方法。虽然有些药物在个别情况下可能有效，但仍然迫切需要提高化疗药物对神经癌症的疗效。最近，氧化铁纳米颗粒研究的进展突出了如何利用其独特特性来解决传统疗法的缺点。氧化铁纳米颗粒兼具良好的生物相容性、磁化率以及通过一系列涂层技术进行功能化的优点。因此，氧化铁纳米颗粒既可以用于通过磁共振成像对脑癌进行成像，也可以作为穿越血脑屏障的转运载体用于靶向药物递送。此外，它们支持诸如磁热疗等微创治疗的能力使其在神经肿瘤学应用中特别具有吸引力，在这些应用中，精准度和安全性至关重要。在本综述中，我们将概述氧化铁纳米颗粒在包括成像和药物递送模式在内的各种临床环境中的应用。重要的是，本综述提出了一种将表面工程与深部脑肿瘤的内部磁靶向相结合的新方法，建议将内部磁体的手术植入作为克服外部磁场局限性的下一代策略。
