Indian-origin boffins introduce thermotherapy as a chemotherapy alternative

WASHINGTON - A research team, including Indian-origin scientists, has introduced a new method to target and destroy cancerous cells.he cancer treatment uses hyperthermia to elevate the temperature of tumor cells, while keeping the surrounding healthy tissue at a lower degree of body heat.

The investigators used both in vitro and in vivo experiments to confirm their findings.

The collaborators are Monrudee Liangruksa, a Virginia Tech graduate student in engineering science and mechanics, and her thesis adviser, Ishwar Puri, professor and head of the department, along with Ranjan Ganguly of the department of power engineering at Iadavpur Univesity, Kolkata, India.

In an interview, Puri explained that to further perfect the technique they used ferrofluids to induce the hyperthermia.

A ferrofluid is a liquid that becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field. The magnetic nanoparticles are suspended in the non-polar state.

“These fluids can then be magnetically targeted to cancerous tissues after intravenous application,” Puri said.

“The magnetic nanoparticles, each billionths of a meter in size, seep into the tissue of the tumor cell due to the high permeability of these vessels,” he said.

Afterwards, the magnetic nanoparticles are heated by exposing the tumor to a high frequency alternating magnetic field, causing the tissue’s death by heating. This process is called magnetic fluid hyperthermia and they have nicknamed it thermotherapy.

The research was presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the American Physical Society Nov. 23 in Long Beach, Calif. (ANI)