Magnetic Nanoparticles May Stop Blood Clot Strokes

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The finding, reported in Advanced Functional Materials (early online), is based on experiments in human blood and mouse clotting models. If the drug delivery system performs similarly well in planned human clinical trials, it could mean a major step forward in the prevention of strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, and other dire circumstances where clots - if not quickly busted - can cause severe tissue damage and death.

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What Are Magnetic Nanoparticles?

Magnetic nanoparticles are a class of nanoparticle which can be manipulated using magnetic field. Such particles commonly consist of magnetic elements such as iron, nickel and cobalt and their chemical compounds. While nanoparticles are smaller than 1 micrometer in diameter (typically 5-500 nanometers), the larger micro-beads are 0.5-500 micrometer in diameter. The magnetic nanoparticles have been the focus of much research recently because they possess attractive properties which could see potential use in catalysis including nano-material-based catalysts, biomedicine, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic particle imaging, data storage, environmental remediation, nano-fluids, and optical filters, defect sensor and cation sensors.

Magnetic nanoparticles can be used for the detection of cancer. Blood can be inserted onto a microfluidic chip with magnetic nanoparticles in it. These magnetic nanoparticles are trapped inside due to an externally applied magnetic field as the blood is free to flow through. The magnetic nanoparticles are coated with antibodies targeting cancer cells or proteins. The magnetic nanoparticles can be recovered and the attached cancer-associated molecules can be assayed to test for their existence.

"We have designed the nanoparticles so that they trap themselves at the site of the clot, which means they can quickly deliver a burst of the commonly used clot-busting drug tPA where it is most needed," said Paolo Decuzzi, Ph.D., the study's co-principal investigator.

Decuzzi leads the Houston Methodist Research Institute Dept. of Translational Imaging.

Decuzzi's group coated iron oxide nanoparticles in albumin, a protein found naturally in blood. The albumin provides a sort of camouflage, giving the loaded nanoparticles time to reach their blood clot target before the body's immune system recognizes the nanoparticles as invaders and attacks them. Iron oxide was chosen for the core because the researchers plan to use them for magnetic resonance imaging, remote guidance with external magnetic fields, and for further accelerating clot dissolution with localized magnetic heating.

The clot-busting drug loaded into the nanoparticles is tPA, tissue plasminogen activator, an enzyme that is also found naturally in blood at low concentrations. Typically, a small volume of concentrated tPA is injected into a stroke patient's blood upstream of a confirmed or suspected clot. From there, some of the tPA reaches the clot, but much of it may cruise past or around the clot, potentially ending up anywhere in the circulatory system. tPA is typically used in emergency scenarios by health care staff, but it can be dangerous to patients who are prone to hemorrhage.

"Treating clots is a serious problem for all hospitals, and we take them very seriously as surgeons," said cardiovascular surgeon and coauthor Alan Lumsden, M.D. "Although tPA and similar drugs can be very effective in rescuing our patients, the drug is broken down quickly in the blood, meaning we have to use more of it to achieve an effective clinical dose. Yet using more of the drug creates its own problems, increasing the risk of hemorrhage. If hemorrhage happens in the brain, it could be fatal."

Lumsden, who is medical director of the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, said the nanoparticles being developed in Decuzzi's lab could solve both problems.

"The nanoparticle protects the drug from the body's defenses, giving the tPA time to work," he said. "But it also allows us to use less tPA, which could make hemorrhage less likely. We are excited to see if the technique works as phenomenally well for our patients as what we saw in these experiments."

Decuzzi, Lumsden, and colleagues tested the effectiveness of tPA-loaded nanoparticles, using human tissue cultures to see where tPA landed and how long it took for the tPA to destroy fibrin-rich clots. In a series of in vivo experiments, the researchers introduced blood clots to a mouse model, injecting tPA-loaded nanoparticles into the bloodstream and using optical microscopy to follow the dissolution of the clots. In comparison to a control, the clots were destroyed about 100 times faster.

Although free tPA is usually injected at room temperature, a number of studies suggest tPA is most effective at higher temperatures (40 C or about 104 F). The same seems to be true for tPA delivered via Decuzzi's iron oxide nanoparticles. By exposing the iron oxide nanoparticles to external, alternating magnetic fields, the researchers created friction and heat. Warmer tPA (42 C or about 108 F) was released faster and increased another 10 times (to 1,000) the rate of clot dissolution.

"We think it is possible to use a static magnetic field first to help guide the nanoparticles to the clot, then alternate the orientation of the field to increase the nanoparticles' efficiency in dissolving clots," Decuzzi said. Coauthor and Vascular Ultrasound Lab Medical Director Zsolt Garami, M.D., added, "By heating the clot, tPA worked better."

Next steps in the research, Decuzzi said, will be testing the nanoparticles' safety and effectiveness in other animal models, with the ultimate goal of human clinical trials. Decuzzi said his group will continue to examine the feasibility of using magnetic fields to guide and heat the nanoparticles.

"We are optimistic because the FDA has already approved the use of iron oxide as a contrast agent in MRIs," Decuzzi said. "And we do not anticipate needing to use as much of the iron oxide at concentrations higher than what's already been approved. The other chemical aspects of the nanoparticles are natural substances you already find in the bloodstream."

Also contributing to the Advanced Functional Materials paper were University of Pecs fellow Eszter Voros (first author) and Houston Methodist researchers Minjung Cho, Maricela Ramirez, Enrica De Rosa, and Jaehong Key. Work was funded by the George and Angelina Kostas Research Center for Cardiovascular Nanomedicine at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. The journal Advanced Functional Materials' 2014 impact factor is 10.4, as assessed by the Institute for Scientific Information.

Attribution/Source(s):

This quality-reviewed article relating to our Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology section was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its likely interest to our disability community readers. Though the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or length, the article "Magnetic Nanoparticles May Stop Blood Clot Strokes" was originally written by Houston Methodist, and published by Disabled-World.com on 2015-02-23 (Updated: 2020-10-06). Should you require further information or clarification, Houston Methodist can be contacted at David Bricker - dmbricker@houstonmethodist.org. Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

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