Novel magnetic embolic MRI imageable particles with anticancer drug release for transcatheter arterial embolization and magnetic ablation

The aim of the study is to prepare embolic hydroxyl ethyl cellulose (HEC)-polyvinyl prolidone (PVP)-magnetic particles suitable for transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) procedures, drug delivery, and magnetic hyperthermia. Two different sizes (microsized and nanosized) of iron oxide particles were used to prepare the embolic particles to investigate the embolization and drug delivery properties. Iron oxides were linked with PVP via bridging flocculation process, then outermost layer of the linked particles was coated with HEC in order to load drugs to particles and reach size requirements for a successful TACE procedure. Size of each particle was calibrated to the range that allows easy injections through microcatheters (40-500 μm). The results showed that the size of the final embolic particles reached around 70 μm with 82 W/g specific absorption rate (SAR) values for nano-iron oxide particles and 45 μm with 77 W/g SAR values for micro-iron oxide particles, which are quite suitable for TACE applications. Furthermore, an anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was successfully loaded onto these particles in order to achieve localized chemotherapy at the tumor site. Particles produced in this study, loaded DOX successfully and prolonged drug release time, performed similarly to pure DOX at higher concentration treatments against human breast cancer cell lines, were heatable under applied alternating magnetic fields. In addition, in vivo embolization studies performed using a rabbit renal embolization model, indicated that these particles were easily delivered through microcatheters and were able to embolize the target.