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Tiny magnetic particles may help assess heart treatments
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Tiny magnetic particles may help physicians track cells in the body to better determine if treatments work, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.
Researchers showed that injecting immune cells containing magnetic particles into the bloodstream was safe and did not interfere with cell function. MRI scans can then track the cells moving through the body, according to a press release.
Jennifer Richards, MD, lead researcher and vascular surgeon at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Scotland, said “this could change how we assess new treatments affecting inflammation and the outcome of a heart attack or heart failure.”
Other tracing methods may expose patients to excess radiation or only allow cells to be tracked for a few hours. In contrast, MRI scans use no radiation and cells containing the particles can be monitored for at least 1 week, according to the release.
Using test tubes, the researchers first determined that magnetically labeled blood cells move and thrive like normal cells. Richards’ team then did four small-scale tests in humans:
- In one, six people were given three thigh muscle injections of unlabeled cells, magnetically labeled cells and an injection of just the magnetic material. The labeled cells were traceable up to 7 days later.
- In another study, two people were given six increasingly larger doses of magnetically labeled blood cells through a vein and researchers observed no negative effects.
- For a third study, 12 people received IV injections of the labeled blood cells (six high dose; six low dose), which were traceable by MRI 1 week later.
- A fourth study examined how well cells travel to inflammation sites. One person was injected with the labeled blood cells, which were successfully followed by an MRI as the cells moved to an inflamed area of skin on the thigh.
“This demonstrates that this method may be useful to facilitate the development of cell-based therapies in the future,” Richards said in the press release.
More human tests are needed before researchers can regularly use magnetically labeled cells.