UGA Researchers Kill Neck and Head Cancer Cells

Good things come in small packages. Really small packages.

Nanoparticles, minute molecular messagers, and alternating magnetic fields, have killed cancerous tumor cells in mice in half an hour without harming healthy cells. UGA scientists have found. The cells were in the necks and heads of the mice.

The findings were published recently in the journal Theranostics, according to a UGA press release. The researchers believe this is the first time this cancer type in lab mice has been treated using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-induced hyperthermia, or above-normal body temperatures.

 “We show that we can use a small concentration of nanoparticles to kill the cancer cells,” said Qun Zhao, lead author and assistant professor of physics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Researchers learned the treatment easily destroyed the cells of cancerous tumors composed entirely of a type of tissue that covers the surface of a body.

Zhao is optimistic about his findings, but says that future studies will need to include larger animals before considering a human clinical trial.

For the experiment, researchers injected about a tenth of a teaspoon of nanoparticle solution directly into the tumor site. With the mouse anesthetized, they placed the animal in a plastic tube wrapped with a wire coil that generated magnetic fields that alternated directions 100,000 times each second. These heated only the concentrated nanoparticles inside the cancerous tumor without harming the surrounding healthy cells and tissue.

Zhao said the study paves the way for additional research that might investigate how to use a biodegradable nanoparticle material similar to magnetic iron oxide for other roles in fighting cancer. These could be carrying and delivering anti-cancer drugs to the tumor site.

“When the cancer cell is experiencing this heated environment, then it becomes more susceptible to drugs,” Zhao said.

The research was supported by a National Cancer Institute Head and Neck Specialized Program of Research Excellence at Emory University.

The paper’s additional authors are Luning Wang, Rui Cheng, Leidong Mao, Robert Arnold, Simon Platt and Elizabeth W. Howerth, all of UGA, and Zhuo G. Chen of Emory University.

Editor's Note: A separate study by researchers from Stanford was published March 27. It shows that a new drug is effective in shrinking tumors of all types in mice. The study was published in Science.