Abstract

Background: The magnetic hyperthermia has been recognized as a useful therapeutic modality for malignant tumors, and IONPs have received a great deal of attentions for potential biomedical applications. The aims of this paper are to design a biomimetic mineralization procedure to synthesize the ferromagnetic and tumor targeting Fe3O4 nanoparticles, to conjugate bioactive molecule on particles, to analyze properties of product.

Methods: IONPs were synthesized with the WSG-PF127 as the mineralization templates, which were mixed by conjugating the peptide WSG on the surface of PF127. And the influence of different conditions, such as templates, temperature, stirring speed on the particles was investigated.

Results: Above the critical micelle concentration (CMC), the catenulate PF127 molecules were assembled into the hollow sphere-like micelle, and the morphology and size of the IONPs mineralized inside the hollow cores of PF127 micelles could be controlled due to the space restricted effect. The saturation magnetization was increased due to the higher crystallinity degree of the WSG-PF127-IONPs, the cytocompatibility was improved by the WSG-PF127 wrapped around the IONPs, and the targetability was endowed via the mediation of the peptide-WSG conjugated on hydrophilic segments of PF127 molecular chains.

Conclusion: The iron oxide nanoparticles with homogenous morphology, uniform size, and excellent ferromagnetism have been successfully mineralized under the regulation of the PF127 micelles coupled with the peptide-WSG. The improved ferromagnetism, the negligible cytotoxicity to HUVECs, and the targetability to tumor cells of the biomimetically mineralized IONPs coupled with WSG-PF127 have greater potential to be applied as the active tumor targeted media for magnetic hyperthermia.

Keywords: Active targetability, biomimetic mineralization, cytocompatibility, ferromagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles, magnetic hyperthermia, tumor targeting peptide.

Graphical Abstract