ical trials, the research team switched from the experimental magnetic tags to formulations of iron oxide already approved for clinical use in Europe (as Endorem) and the United States (as Feridex). Because immature dendritic cells naturally take up materials around them, they simply absorbed, or ingested, the iron oxide particles when exposed to them in the lab. The magnetically labeled, cancer-primed cells were then returned to the patients, all of whom had stage III melanoma.

"Although dendritic cell therapy is used in clinical trials to treat patients with melanoma, in this study we wanted to see whether the magnetically labeled cells could be tracked by MRI, to study their migratory behavior in more detail," says Carl Figdor, principal investigator of the study, of the NCMLS. "We were very pleased that they showed up clearly. With the anatomic information from the MRI, we could see precisely where they were -- inside or outside of the lymph nodes."

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Source:Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions


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