IP: 46.148.112.131 On: Sun, 17 Mar 2019 15:52:01 Copyright: American Scientific Publishers Delivered by Ingenta Copyright © 2017 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Article Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology Vol. 13, 858–868, 2017 www.aspbs.com/jbn Fe–Cr–Nb–B Magnetic Nanoparticle Interaction with Human Mesenchymal and Stem Cells Luminita Labusca 1 2 ∗ , Camelia Danceanu 1 , Ecaterina Radu 1 , Daniel Herea 1 , Horia Chiriac 1 , and Nicoleta Lupu 1 1 National Institute of Research and Development for Technical Physics 47 Mangeron Blvd., Iasi, 700050, Romania 2 Systems Bioinformatics and Modelling SBIM GmbH 39 Basaltstrasse Frankfurt, D-60487, Germany The use of materials at the nanoscale is currently of increasing interest for life sciences and medicine. Particularly, magnetic nanoparticles are investigated for a large array of applications for medical diagnostic and treatment. We have previously demonstrated that Fe–Cr–Nb–B ferromagnetic nanoparticles display heating properties that recommend them as potent agents for delivery of local hyperthermia for the treatment of solid tumors. Stem cell-mediated delivery represents a safe modality of targeting tumor sites. This study investigated the interaction of Fe–Cr–Nb–B nanoparticles with human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and human fibroblasts. The results revealed that bare and chitosan-coated Fe–Cr–Nb–B are internalized by both cell types, can be detected up to 28 days inside the cells without signs of membrane disruption and do not display in vitro cytotoxicity. Moreover, particle internalization does not interfere with proliferative and differentiation potential (osteogenesis and adipogenesis), thereby demonstrating an unaltered cellular phenotype. Further investigation of the potential effect on cytoskeleton dynamics, and in inducing oxidative stress is required. Present results are encouraging for the design of a stem cell-mediated delivery of Fe–Cr–Nb–B magnetic nanoparticles to solid tumor sites for hyperthermia applications. KEYWORDS: Magnetic Nanoparticles, Hyperthermia, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Fibroblasts, Cytotoxicity, Proliferation, Differentiation. INTRODUCTION The use of nano-scaled materials, particularly of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) has evolved as an increasing field of research in life sciences. Both physical and chemical prop- erties of MNPs are relevant for a wide scale of medical application for the diagnostic, prevention and treatment of various diseases. 1 Moreover, MNPs could be obtained by simple, efficient and eco-friendly methods, making them of interest in the context of green technologies. 2–4 Iron oxide MNPs are currently used or tested for cellular magnetic separation, 5 labeling agents for magnetic reso- nance imaging (MRI) or for drug delivery. 6 The emerg- ing field of cell-based therapies (CT) introduces the need for in vivo cellular imaging, opening the perspective of employing MNPs as tagging and/or tracking agents. 7 8 In the context of multimodal therapies for the treatment of solid malignancies, the use of hyperthermia (HT) as ∗ Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: drlluminita@yahoo.com Received: 1 February 2017 Accepted: 4 July 2017 an adjuvant method is of increasing importance, especially for multiresistant or metastatic cancers. 9 10 MNPs-based local HT delivery has gained significant interest in the recent years as they offer several advantages compared to traditional methods. Injectable MNPs could selectively tar- get cancerous cells, therefore, limiting HT effect on sur- rounding tissues. It may be possible to reduce the dose of therapeutic particles without reducing the heating effect while obtaining a uniform temperature distribution with improved antitumoral effect. 11 Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are adult stem cells that can be isolated from mesenchymal or non-mesenchymal tissues such as bone marrow, adipose tissue, cord blood, peripheral blood, dental pulp and trabecular bone. 12 Due to their regenerative, immunomodulatory and disease-modifying capabilities, MSCs are currently being tested in increasing numbers of clinical trials for a large panel of therapeutic purposes. 13 An important distinguish- ing feature of MSCs is their ability to migrate and engraft within differentiated tissues. To date, there are increasing evidences that systemically or locally administered MSCs 858 J. Biomed. Nanotechnol. 2017, Vol. 13, No. 7 1550-7033/2017/13/858/011 doi:10.1166/jbn.2017.2389