Chains of Magnetosomes Extracted from AMB-1 Magnetotactic Bacteria for Application in Alternative Magnetic Field Cancer Therapy

International audienceChains of magnetosomes extracted from magnetotactic bacteria are shown to be highly efficient for alternative magnetic field cancer therapy. The viability of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells is relatively unaffected by the presence of less than ∼ 1 mg of chains of magnetosomes. When these cells are exposed to an oscillating magnetic field of frequency 183 kHz and field strengths of 20 to 60 mT, up to 100 % of them are destroyed. We show that it is possible to fully eradicate a tumor xeno-greffed on a mouse by administering a suspension containing ∼ 1 mg of chains of magnetosomes within the tumor and by exposing the mouse to three heat cycles of 20 minutes, during which the tumor temperature is raised to ∼ 43°C. We demonstrate the higher efficiency of the chains of magnetosomes compared with various other materials, i. e. whole inactive magnetotactic bacteria, individual magnetosomes not organized in chains and two different types of chemically synthesized nanoparticles currently tested for alternative magnetic field cancer therapy. The efficiency of the chains of magnetosomes is attributed to three factors, (i), a high magnetosome specific absorption rate (SAR), (ii), a homogenous distribution of the chains of magnetosomes within the tumor yielding uniform heating and (iii), the faculty of the chains of magnetosomes to penetrate within the cancer cells following the application of the alternative magnetic field, which enables intra-cellular heating. Biodistribution studies reveal that chains of magnetosomes administered directly within xeno-greffed breast tumors progressively leave the tumors during the 14 days following their administration and are then eliminated in the feces