# Intravascular Delivery of Nanoclusters for Treatment of Deep-Seated Cancers with Magnetic Hyperthermia

> **NIH NIH R01** · OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $614,464

## Abstract

Project Summary
Magnetic hyperthermia is a highly promising therapeutic modality for treatment of various cancers. It is based
on the concept that magnetic nanoparticles delivered to cancer tumors can generate heat after exposure to a
non-invasive external alternating magnetic field (AMF). Many preclinical and clinical studies have validated the
significant potential of nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia to either kill cancer cells directly or enhance their
susceptibility to radiation and chemotherapy. Despite its promising potential, magnetic hyperthermia is currently
limited to treatment of localized and relatively accessible tumors, because the required therapeutic temperatures
above 42 0C can only be achieved by direct intratumoral injection of conventional iron oxide nanoparticles. To
realize the true potential of magnetic hyperthermia as a therapy for deep-seated primary and metastatic tumors,
it is necessary to develop nanoparticles that can efficiently accumulate at tumor sites following systemic
administration and generate desirable intratumoral temperatures upon exposure to AMF.
A multidisciplinary team of investigators with complementary expertise in nanomedicine, magnetic hyperthermia,
and cancer research will develop novel nanoparticles with high heating capacity that efficiently accumulate in
primary and metastatic tumors following a single systemic injection and generate desirable intratumoral
temperatures upon exposure to AMF. The research team will capitalize on its recent invention of magnetic
nanoclusters consisting of hexagonal-shaped nanoheaters encapsulated in polymeric nanoparticles. Preliminary
studies validated that these nanoclusters are safe, efficiently accumulate in subcutaneous cancer tumors after
intravenous injection, elevate the intratumoral temperature to 44 0C in the presence of AMF, and significantly
inhibit tumor growth. To advance this technology, the first major goal of this project is to optimize the developed
nanoclusters for targeted delivery to ovarian and pancreatic cancer tumors by modifying their surface with the
LHRH peptide. The second goal is to confirm, in rodents with metastatic ovarian cancer and orthotopic pancreas
cancer, that the nanoclusters are efficient in increasing temperature of deep-seated primary and metastatic
tumors. The third goal is to validate therapeutic efficacy of the nanocluster-mediated hyperthermia alone and in
combination with chemotherapy in these animal models. These goals will be addressed with the following
Specific Aims: 1. Optimize translational potential and tumor-targeted delivery of the developed nanoclusters. 2.
Evaluate optimized magnetic nanoclusters in mice with human metastatic ovarian cancer. 3. Assess optimized
magnetic nanoclusters in an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer. At the completion of this project, the team
expects to produce strong evidence that the optimized nanoclusters will efficiently accumulate in metastatic and
deep-seated tumors followi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10115664
- **Project number:** 5R01CA237569-02
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Oleh Taratula
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $614,464
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-03-01 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10115664

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10115664, Intravascular Delivery of Nanoclusters for Treatment of Deep-Seated Cancers with Magnetic Hyperthermia (5R01CA237569-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10115664. Licensed CC0.

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