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MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES FOR USE IN THE TREATMENT OF TUMORS
EP3790588B1
The present invention relates to magnetic nanoparticles based on iron oxide having cubic shape, suitably functionalized for the release of targeting chemotherapeutic agents, i.e. selectively in the tumors being treated; the invention also relates to the pharmaceutical compositions comprising such nanoparticles and to their use in combined oncological therapies of hyperthermia and chemotherapy, useful in particular in the treatment of ovarian tumors.
As demonstrated in the experimental part that follows, the nanoparticles of the invention are actually internalized by the cells of these tumors and, once inside the lysosomes, the decrease in pH promotes the release of the chemotherapeutic agent in the cytosol of the cell, from which it migrates in the nucleus where it damages the DNA. At the same time, the application of an external alternating magnetic field induces the heating of the nanocubes with consequent damage to the cellular structures due to heat. The two concomitant actions of heating and DNA damage by the drug induce then the cell's death.