Development And Characterisation Of Magnetically Responsive And Active Agent Loaded Alginate Based Microspheres To Be Used In The Treatment Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Hcc)

Abstract

Today, cancer is the foremost common and deadly disease in the world. One of the most important cancer types is liver cancer and occurs either by being directly involved with liver cells resulting in primary liver cancers, or by the metastasis of other cancer cells originating from different organs and reaching the liver second-hand, thus resulting in secondary liver cancer. Among the liver cancer types, especially in the primary liver cancers, the cancer type named hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) plays the largest part and is considered to be a global health problem worldwide. Whether for the new HCC cases occurring every year or for the fact that it makes up a considerable part of diseases resulting in death, HCC has currently been divided into three fundamental stages: early, middle, and advanced. While surgical intervention or ablation can have a high success rate when treating HCC in its early stage, for patients at the middle stage transarterial characterization and chemoembolization (TACE) procedures provide both a better success in treatment and a prolonged life regiment. Within the scope of the presented thesis, a chemoembolization agent, containing a new generation drug and imaging agent used in TACE applications, is to be developed which can be visualised using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. For this purpose, the development and evaluation of microspheres in clinical applications carried out by in vitro tests, especially of alginate based polymer structures combined with appropriate antineoplastic agents (such as Sorafenib) is the aim of this project. Additionally, super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), which were synthesized for the purpose of MRI imaging and therefore tracking the microspheres during the treatment process, were tested for their potential in use during treatment via hyperthermia.