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World J Biol Chem. Feb 26, 2016; 7(1): 158-167
Published online Feb 26, 2016. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v7.i1.158
Engineered magnetic core shell nanoprobes: Synthesis and applications to cancer imaging and therapeutics
Samir Mandal, Keya Chaudhuri
Samir Mandal, Keya Chaudhuri, Molecular and Human Genetics Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata 700032, India
Author contributions: Mandal S and Chaudhuri K equally contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Keya Chaudhuri, Emeritus Scientist, Molecular and Human Genetics Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032, India. keya.chaudhuri@gmail.com
Telephone: +91-332-4995762 Fax: +91-332-4735197
Received: May 22, 2015
Peer-review started: May 23, 2015
First decision: September 17, 2015
Revised: September 23, 2015
Accepted: December 3, 2015
Article in press: December 4, 2015
Published online: February 26, 2016
Processing time: 279 Days and 1.3 Hours
Abstract

Magnetic core shell nanoparticles are composed of a highly magnetic core material surrounded by a thin shell of desired drug, polymer or metal oxide. These magnetic core shell nanoparticles have a wide range of applications in biomedical research, more specifically in tissue imaging, drug delivery and therapeutics. The present review discusses the up-to-date knowledge on the various procedures for synthesis of magnetic core shell nanoparticles along with their applications in cancer imaging, drug delivery and hyperthermia or cancer therapeutics. Literature in this area shows that magnetic core shell nanoparticle-based imaging, drug targeting and therapy through hyperthermia can potentially be a powerful tool for the advanced diagnosis and treatment of various cancers.

Keywords: Magnetic core shell nanoparticles; Magnetic resonance imaging; Cancer therapeutics; Drug delivery; Hyperthermia

Core tip: Magnetic core shell nanoparticles have recently gained a lot of interest due to its excellent design and applicability to various fields of research including biomedical sciences. The core shell particle contains a highly magnetic core surrounded by a thin shell of desired material, the choice being dependent on the application. The applicability of core shell nanoparticles in the area of in vivo imaging, drug delivery and therapeutics in the form of hyperthermia have been discussed along with the various procedures for synthesis of these useful nanoprobes.