Washington, Nov 17: A research team, led by an Indian scientist at MIT, has developed remotely controlled nanoparticles that, when pulsed with an electromagnetic field, release drugs to attack tumours.

Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D.,Ph.D., an associate professor in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology (HST) and in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and colleagues had earlier developed injectable multi-functional nanoparticles designed to flow through the bloodstream, home to tumors and clump together. Clumped particles help clinicians visualize tumours through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

With the ability to see the clumped particles, Bhatia’s co-author in the current work, Geoff von Maltzahn asked the next question: “Can we talk back to them?”

The team found that they could, and that the system that makes it possible consists of tiny particles (billionths of a meter in size) that are superparamagnetic, a property that causes them to give off heat when they are exposed to a magnetic field. Tethered to these particles are active molecules, such as therapeutic drugs.

Exposing the particles to a low-frequency electromagnetic field causes the particles to radiate heat that, in turn, melts the tethers and releases the drugs. The waves in this magnetic field have frequencies between 350 and 400 kilohertz—the same range as radio waves.

These waves pass harmlessly through the body and heat only the nanoparticles. For comparison, microwaves, which will cook tissue, have frequencies measured in gigahertz, or about a million times more powerful.

The tethers in the system consist of strands of DNA, “a classical heat sensitive material,” said von Maltzahn, a graduate student in HST. Two strands of DNA link together through hydrogen bonds that break when heated. In the presence of the magnetic field, heat generated by the nanoparticles breaks these, leaving one strand attached to the particle and allowing the other to float away with its cargo.

One advantage of a DNA tether is that its melting point is tunable. Longer strands and differently coded strands require different amounts of heat to break. This heat-sensitive tuneability makes it possible for a single particle to simultaneously carry many different types of cargo, each of which can be released at different times or in various combinations by applying different frequencies or durations of electromagnetic pulses.

To test the particles, the researchers implanted mice with a tumor-like gel saturated with nanoparticles. They placed the implanted mouse into the well of a cup-shaped electrical coil and activated the magnetic pulse. The results confirm that without the pulse, the tethers remain unbroken. With the pulse, the tethers break and release the drugs into the surrounding tissue.

The experiment is a proof of principal demonstrating a safe and effective means of tunable remote activation. However, work remains to be done before such therapies become viable in the clinic.

“Our overall goal is to create multifunctional nanoparticles that home to a tumor, accumulate, and provide customizable remotely activated drug delivery right at the site of the disease,” said Bhatia.

She added that the findings could lead to the improved diagnosis and targeted treatment of cancer.

The study is published in the Nov. 15 online issue of Advanced Materials. (ANI)