Effect of Hyperthermia and Cellular SPION Uptake on Various Head and Neck Cancer Cell Lines

Introduction Cisplatin is one of the standard treatments of head and neck tumors leading frequently to severe systemic side effects. This could be improved by targeted drug delivery with nanoparticles in combination with local hyperthermia. Unfortunately, the outcome of studies on hyperthermia in HNSCC are diverse. Therefore, we started with testing the effect of nanoparticle uptake in HNSCC-cell lines, their toxicity, and the effect of hyperthermia.

Material and Methods For testing the uptake of two SPIONs (SEON^LA, SEON^LA-HSA) the cell lines A253, Detroit 562, Fadu, SCC-9 the iron content after 24h of incubation was measured with atomic emission spectroscopy and microscopy. Toxicity of SPIONs and the effect of temperatures of 42°C, 45°C, and 47°C for 1 hour were assessed by real-time cell analysis (xCELLigence).

Results After incubation with 100µg SPIONs the uptake of SEON^LA was 1.5 to 6.8 times higher than of SEON^LA-HAS but the toxicity of SEON^LA-HSA was rather low compared to SEONLA. Incubation at 42°C for one hour did not affect the cells. At 45°C only A253 showed a 50% drop in viability but recovered within a few days. After incubation at 47°C, all four cell lines showed a clear response. Interestingly, the A253 cells again responded strongly but recovered. The nanoparticles did not show additional effects.

Conclusion We aimed on testing the response of four HNSCC cell lines to elevated temperatures and the effect of the uptake of two different nanoparticles. The results showed uptake of both particle types and concentration and uptake dependent toxicity. Interestingly, only at a temperature as high as 47°C HNSCC-cell-lines showed pronounced responses. As a next step, we aim on investigating possible synergistic effects between nanoparticles, cytostatics and hyperthermia.

This research was funded by the ELAN funding of the Medical Faculty of the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (18-03-07-1-Balk), the Manfred-Roth-Stiftung, Fürth, Germany, the Forschungsstiftung Medizin at the University hospital Erlangen, Germany and Hans Wormser, Herzogenaurach, Germany.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022