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The impressive diversity related to etiologic factors and the distinctive genetic and immunological behavior attained by various conditions represent the fundamental reasons for high-rated inefficient and eventual hazardous strategies entailed by conventional healthcare practice. Thanks to the tremendous progress reported in nanotechnology during the last decades, various unconventional and promising strategies have been successfully developed and examined with respect to potential genuine biomedical applications. Given the amazing possibility to manipulate matter at a molecular and atomic level and the incessant need to design and implement personalized therapies, various nanosized systems have thus been engineered. Among the newly developed nanomaterials, metallic nanoparticles have gain attention during the intense biomedical research activity, thanks to their peculiar size-conditioned properties. An efficient therapeutic strategy begins with an accurate diagnosis result, so the immediate requirement of such specific detection tools is conspicuous. The use of silver and gold in day-to-day activities is acknowledged since ancient times, but the novel technological opportunities extended their particular applications towards personalized medicine. It is worthy to mention that the unexpected nanodimension-related features of the aforementioned noble metals strongly recommend them for a large number of current applications in nanomedicine, including novel and specific metallic nanostructures used in diagnostics.

Our review summarizes the latest approaches regarding in vivo biocompatibility evaluation of magnetite nanoparticle-based systems. The paper follows the applications of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in cancer diagnosis and treatment, by means of nanoparticle-mediated magnetic hyperthermia, respectively by targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics. The long-term biodistribution in relevant organisms is also discussed, due to the need of knowing the exact course of magnetite nanoparticles after the fulfillment of their function. Several commercial Fe3O4 systems used as contrast agents for medical imaging and cancer treatment by hyperthermia are briefly presented in the last section.

Here, we report the synthesis, characterization and the impact of magnetite nanoparticles functionalized with cytostatic drugs, epirubicin (Epi) and fludarabine (Flu) (Fe3O4@Epi, Fe3O4@Flu) prepared by chemical co-precipitation method on tumoral cells in vitro. The average diameter of the resulted particles was about 4 nm for both Fe3O4@Epi and for Fe3O4@Flu. These bioactive nanostructured materials proved to significantly enhance the antitumor effect of tested cytostatic drugs in vitro. The most significant result was obtained in the case of Epi, where the tested magnetite nanostructured material enhanced the cytotoxic effect of this drug with more than 50%.