99mTc, 90Y and 177Lu Labelled Iron Oxide Nanoflowers Designed for Potential Use in Dual Magnetic Hyperthermia/Radionuclide Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis

Development of a complex based on iron-oxide nanoparticles (IONP) for diagnosis and dual magnetic hyperthermia/radionuclide cancer therapy accomplishing high yields of radiolabelling and great magnetic heat induction is still a challenge. We report here the synthesis of citric acid (CA), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated IONP and their labelling with three radionuclides, technetium (99mTc), yttrium (90Y) and lutetium (177Lu), aiming potential use in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Polyol synthesized IONP are flower-like structure with 13.5 nm spherically shaped cores and 24.8 nm diameter. PAA-coated nanoparticles (PAA@IONP) showed the best characteristics such as very high radiolabelling yields (>97.5%) with all three radionuclides, and excellent in vitro stabilities with less than 10% of radionuclides detaching after 24 h. Heating ability of PAA@IONP in an alternating external magnetic field showed ILP value of 7.3 nHm2/kg, that is one of higher reported. Additionally, PAA@IONP ...