Temperature-controlled magnetic nanoparticles hyperthermia inhibits primary tumor growth and metastases dissemination

Abstract Magnetic hyperthermia (MHT) is a promising approach for cancer therapy. However, a systematic MHT characterization as function of temperature on the therapeutic efficiency is barely analyzed. Here, we first perform comparative temperature-dependent analysis of the cobalt ferrite nanoparticles-mediated MHT effectiveness in two murine tumors models – breast (4 T1) and colon (CT26) cancer in vitro and in vivo. The overall MHT killing capacity in vitro increased with the temperature and CT26 cells were more sensitive than 4 T1 when heated to 43 °C. Well in line with the in vitro data, such heating cured non-metastatic CT26 tumors in vivo, while only inhibiting metastatic 4 T1 tumor growth without improving the overall survival. High-temperature MHT (>47 °C) resulted in complete 4 T1 primary tumor clearance, 25–40% long-term survival rates, and, importantly, more effective prevention of metastasis comparing to surgical extraction. Thus, the specific MHT temperature must be defined for each tumor individually to ensure a successful antitumor therapy.