Treating Cancer with Magnetic Fields

The concept of magnetism has been used as a sham healing tool by so many charlatans over the centuries, that is stands to reason people are reluctant to accept it today. Yet, experts are now showing that magnetic fields may in fact be used to destroy cancer tumors.

French scientists argue that hyperthermia – the approach of using heat to destroy cancer cells – is an avenue that is definitely worth exploring, provided that experts manage to surpass certain built-in limitations that have stifled the wide-scale adoption of this method.

What the hyperthermia approach proposes is killing cancer cells in tumors using heat. Originally, this was done using radiation, but it was soon found out that healthy cells near the tumor site were being destroyed in the process.

By using an alternating magnetic field (AMF), experts from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris, believe they may be able to surpass this limitation, targeting tumor cells exclusively. The work was led by research scientist Edouard Alphandéry.

The new approach is actually quite innovating. Scientists say that it's based on a technique that uses targeted iron oxide nanoparticles. These particles can be augmented with specific antibodies so that they latch on to diseased cells exclusively.

After being delivered to the tumor sites, an AMF can be used to cause the iron in the nanoparticles to oscillate, and thus produce heat. This approach would enable oncologists to destroy the tumors from within, with little to no damage being inflicted on surrounding, healthy tissue.

But the team improved on this approach by using magnetosomes as part of their version of heat therapy. These structures are organelles produced in specific types of bacteria. The thing that makes them special is the fact that they contain magnetite (Fe3O4) crystals, Chemistry World reports.

In nature, bacteria use these crystals to sense the planet's magnetic field, and align themselves with it. But a string of six magnetic organelles proved more efficient at killing cancer cells than iron oxide nanoparticles, the investigators say.

In cancerous mice, applying three, 20-minute bursts of AMF once daily resulted in an average temperature increase inside the tumor cells of about 10 degrees Celsius. During the treatment, the tumors shrank considerably.

“The magnetite in magnetosomes is highly crystalline and slightly reduced, so these differences could be a reason why they are performing better,” says University of Leeds bionanoscience lecturer Sarah Staniland.