A Feasibility Study of Nonlinear Spectroscopic Measurement of Magnetic Nanoparticles Targeted to Cancer Cells

Objective: Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are an emerging platform for targeted diagnostics in cancer. An important component needed for translation of MNPs is the detection and quantification of targeted MNPs bound to tumor cells. Method: This study explores the feasibility of a multifrequency nonlinear magnetic spectroscopic method that uses excitation and pickup coils and is capable of discriminating between quantities of bound and unbound MNPs in 0.5 ml samples of KB and Igrov human cancer cell lines. The method is tested over a range of five concentrations of MNPs from 0 to 80 μ g/ml and five concentrations of cells from 50 to 400 000 count per ml. Results: A linear model applied to the magnetic spectroscopy data was able to simultaneously measure bound and unbound MNPs with agreement between the model-fit and lab assay measurements (p in vivo applications where MNPs could be targeted to cancer cells.