The system, developed by University of Buffalo scientists, involves a magnetic field directing the accumulation in tumor cells of custom-designed, drug-filled nanocarriers.

The approach may lead to treatments that exploit the advantages of photodynamic therapy, or PDT, and that have the potential to reduce drug accumulation in normal tissues.

The in vitro results show magnetically guided delivery to tumor cells of customized nanocarriers allowed for more precise targeting, while boosting cellular uptake of the PDT drugs contained inside them.

This is a novel way to enhance drug delivery to cells, said Chemistry Professor Paras Prasad, executive director of UB’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics. The externally applied magnetic field acted as a kind of ‘remote control,’ directing nanocarriers to the targeted area in the cell culture.

Once the magnetic field was applied, the concentration of drug inside the tumor cells in the target area increased.

We have shown we can use magnetophoretic control to deliver PDT drug to tumor cells, resulting in increased accumulation inside those cells, said Tymish Ohulchanskyy, a UB senior research scientist.

The study recently appeared in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

Delivered via nanoparticle carriers, drug components and lipids enter the membrane of a targeted melanoma cell.