Characterization of magnetic targeting effectivity in an artificial tumor vessel network

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) can be used as drug carriers in novel cancer treatment approaches such as magnetic drug targeting (MDT). Computer simulations of MNP in a tumor vessel network under the influence of a magnetic field considering the physical and chemical properties of MNP were established before, however, an experimental validation of these simulations for specific settings is missing. The parameters influencing the targeting effectivity such as MNP concentration, blood flow velocities and different distances of the tumor vessel network to the magnet configuration were varied and a quantitative assessment of the targeting effectivity was performed photometrically determining the resulting iron concentration. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) was used to analyze the correlation between MPI intensity values and the iron concentration. The parameter study confirmed the previous simulation results for the fixed magnet configuration.