Chains of magnetosomes extracted from AMB-1 magnetotactic bacteria for application in alternative magnetic field cancer therapy.

Chains of magnetosomes extracted from AMB-1 magnetotactic bacteria are shown to be highly efficient for cancer therapy when they are exposed to an alternative magnetic field. When a suspension containing MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells was incubated in the presence of various amounts of extracted chains of magnetosomes, the viability of these cells remained high in the absence of an alternative magnetic field. By contrast, when this suspension was exposed to an alternative magnetic field of frequency 183 kHz and field strengths of 20, 40, or 60 mT, up to 100% of these cells were destroyed. The antitumoral activity of the extracted chains of magnetosomes is demonstrated further by showing that they can be used to fully eradicate a tumor xenografted under the skin of a mouse. For that, a suspension containing ∼1 mg of extracted chains of magnetosomes was administered within the tumor and the mouse was exposed to three heat cycles of 20 min, during which the tumor temperature was raised to ∼43 °C. We also demonstrate the higher efficiency of the extracted 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 superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles currently tested for alternative magnetic field cancer therapy. The higher efficiency of the extracted chains of magnetosomes compared with that of the other nanoparticles is attributed to three factors: (i) a specific absorption rate higher for the magnetosomes than for the chemically synthesized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, (ii) a more uniform heating for the chains of magnetosomes than for the individual magnetosomes and (iii) the ability of the chains of magnetosomes to penetrate within the cancer cells or bind at the cell membrane following the application of the alternative magnetic field, which enables efficient cell destruction. Biodistribution studies revealed that extracted chains of magnetosomes administered directly within xenografted breast tumors progressively left the tumors during the 14 days following their administration and were then eliminated in large proportion in the feces.