DEVICE FOR DESTROYING CELL STRUCTURES WITHOUT DAMAGING THEIR SURROUNDINGS

Abstract

A device for environmentally friendly destruction of health-relevant and cosmetically/aesthetically relevant cell structures, in particular tumour cells, which have at least one metallic nanoparticle on their cell membrane, is disclosed. The device includes a primary coil for generating an inhomogeneous primary magnetic field, a secondary coil for generating an inhomogeneous secondary magnetic field and a control device which is designed for actuating the primary coil in such a way that the nanoparticle is deflected by the primary magnetic field and for actuating the secondary coil in such a way that the secondary magnetic field oscillates in relation to the primary magnetic field and deforms it periodically in order to generate Alfvén waves which deflect the nanoparticle, whereby the cell membrane of the cell structure is torn up by the nanoparticle and the cell structure is consequently destroyed.

Claims

1.-7. (canceled)

8. A device for environmentally friendly destruction of health-relevant and cosmetically/aesthetically relevant cell structures, including tumour cells, which have at least a metallic nanoparticle on their cell membrane, the device comprising: a primary coil for generating an inhomogeneous primary magnetic field, a secondary coil for generating an inhomogeneous secondary magnetic field, and a control device which is designed for actuating the primary coil in such a way that the metallic nanoparticle is deflected by the primary magnetic field and for actuating the secondary coil in such a way that the secondary magnetic field oscillates in relation to the primary magnetic field and deforms the primary magnetic field periodically in order to generate Alfvén waves which deflect the metallic nanoparticle, wherein the cell membrane of the cell structure is torn up by the metallic nanoparticle and the cell structure is consequently destroyed.

9. A device according to claim 8, wherein the control device is designed for actuating the primary coil in a temporally constant manner or with a change over time and for actuating the secondary coil with a change over time.

10. A device according to claim 8, wherein the primary coil and the secondary coil are toroidal coils that are arranged essentially concentrically.

11. A device according to claim 8, wherein the control device is designed for actuating the primary coil and the secondary coil over a predefined period of 10 to 180 seconds, or over a period of about 30 seconds.

12. A device according to claim 8, wherein the primary coil and the secondary coil are installed in a handheld device.

13. A device according to claim 12, wherein the control device is installed in the handheld device.

14. A device according to claim 8, wherein the control unit is designed for adjusting an efficiency of the device by selecting a duration of the actuation and/or by selecting a strength of the primary magnetic field and/or the secondary magnetic field.

Description

[0018] FIGS. 1a-1d show the selective destruction of cell structures with the device according to the invention.

[0019] FIG. 2 shows the device according to the invention with a primary coil and a secondary coil.

[0020] FIGS. 3a and 3b show in detail the generation of Alfvén waves by a primary magnetic field and a secondary magnetic field.

[0021] FIG. 1a shows a cell, e.g., a tumour cell or cancer cell 1 comprising a cell nucleus 2 and a cell membrane 3, which is located in a tissue near the surface of a human or animal body. Such tumour cells 1 are usually located in the vicinity of healthy cells that should not be damaged during a treatment process. For this purpose, antibodies 4 attaching themselves only to selected tumour cells 1, but not to healthy cells, are used in a known manner. In this case, the antibodies 4 are doped with at least one metallic nanoparticle 5, which generally contains iron oxide and/or is designed as an iron nanosphere.

[0022] The method is described for a tumour cell 1 on the basis of the figures, although the method could also be performed for other health-relevant cell structures or even for cosmetically/aesthetically relevant cell structures such as pigment deposits in age spots and liver spots, colour pigments in tattoos and/or port-wine stains or also warts, elevations (e.g., naveus) and/or scar tissue. If reference is made below to a tumour cell 1, the method can thus be performed equally also for another one of the aforementioned cell structures.

[0023] FIG. 1b shows the tumour cell 1 in a state in which the antibody 4 adheres to the cell membrane 3. In practice, several doped antibodies 4 can dock onto the tumour cell 1, which further enhances the mode of action of the device described below. The bond between the cell membrane 3 and the antibody 4 is so strong that the antibody 4 cannot detach from the cell membrane 3 without tearing it up. However, since a tumour cell 1 with a ruptured cell membrane 3 is not viable, rupturing the cell membrane 3 is equivalent to destroying the tumour cell 1.

[0024] In order to rupture the cell membrane 3, as shown in FIG. 1c, an inhomogeneous primary magnetic field HP is applied in the area of the tumour cell 1, which induces an opposing field into the nanoparticle 5, i.e., the nanoparticle 5 is coupled to the primary magnetic field HP.

[0025] As illustrated in FIG. 1d, the cell membrane 3 is torn up by an Alfvén wave deflecting the nanoparticle 5. For this purpose, a secondary magnetic field HS is applied in the area of the primary magnetic field HP, which “displaces” the latter, whereby the Alfvén wave arises. Said wave is strong enough for tearing the nanoparticle 5 from the cell membrane 3, creating a fracture 6 therein, as will be explained in detail below with reference to FIGS. 3a and 3b.

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a device 7 that is suitable for the environmentally friendly destruction of tumour cells which have at least one metallic nanoparticle 5 on their cell membrane 3. As is known to those skilled in the art, environmentally friendly means in this context that healthy cells are affected as little as possible during treatment with the device 7.

[0027] The device 7 comprises a primary coil 8 for generating the inhomogeneous primary magnetic field HP, a secondary coil 9 for generating the inhomogeneous secondary magnetic field HS and a control device 10. For example, the primary and secondary coils 8, 9 are designed as toroidal coils with iron cores and each with a predetermined number of windings through which current is passed in a known manner in order to generate the respective magnetic fields HP, HS. In this case, the coils 8, 9 are usually arranged concentrically around an axis A.

[0028] The coils 8, 9 have an inner diameter di and an outer diameter da, with no guide tube, e.g. for plasma, being guided through the inner diameter di. The coils 8, 9 are arranged with a distance dz between each other. For application, the device 7 is positioned such that the primary coil 8 is at a positioning distance dp from a tissue 11 to be treated and the secondary coil 9 is arranged on the side of the primary coil 8 facing away from the tissue 11. In this arrangement, the device 7 allows the tissue 11 to be treated on a treatment area 12 which is located essentially symmetrically about the axis A. With the device 7 in the configuration as illustrated, treatment areas 12 close to the surface can be treated, whereby increased penetration depths can also be achieved by appropriately selecting the magnetic fields in order to also treat deeper-lying types of cancer.

[0029] The control device 10 is designed for actuating the primary coil 8 and the secondary coil 9. For example, the control device 10 can control the amperage of the current flowing through the windings of the coils 8, 9 in order to generate the magnetic fields HP, HS. It shall be understood that the control device 10 can control the primary coil 8 and the secondary coil 9 independently in order to generate the Alfvén waves.

[0030] The control device 10 can be designed in any way, for example, as an analog or digital control unit, e.g., as a computer. The power supply to the coils 8, 9, which is regulated by the control device 10, can be accomplished, for example, by an external power source or even by a battery. In addition, the control unit 10 can be connected to a data logger or have an external interface in order to record past operating times or possible sources of error.

[0031] According to FIG. 3a, in a first operating state, only the primary magnetic field HP is applied to the nanoparticle 5, i.e., the control device 10 actuates only the primary coil 8. The secondary coil 9, on the other hand, is not actuated. The primary magnetic field HP thus generates an opposing magnetic field within the nanoparticle 5.

[0032] In order to move the nanoparticle 5, the control device 10 also actuates the secondary coil 9 so that it generates the secondary magnetic field HS, which displaces the primary magnetic field HP, which is shown schematically in FIG. 3b by way of a transformation of the dashed representation of the primary magnetic field HP to the solid representation of the primary magnetic field HP. In this embodiment, the primary coil 8 is actuated in a temporally constant manner.

[0033] The control device 10 is designed for actuating the secondary coil 9 in such a way that the secondary magnetic field HS oscillates in relation to the primary magnetic field HP and deforms it periodically, i.e., after the second operating state of FIG. 3b has been reached, the first operating state of FIG. 3a is again adopted, then the second operating state of FIG. 3b, etc. This actuation enables via the oscillating secondary field HS that Alfvén waves are generated, which in turn deflect the nanoparticle 5. As shown in FIG. 3b, the Alfvén waves propagate linearly along the direction R so that the nanoparticle 5 is transported linearly in the direction R and does not oscillate around a rest position with a coil and an alternating field, as in the prior art.

[0034] However, other actuations by means of which Alfvén waves can be generated are possible, too. For example, the primary coil 8 can also be actuated in a time-varying manner so that the first primary magnetic field HP already oscillates before the secondary magnetic field takes effect. Furthermore, it is possible that the secondary magnetic field HS in the first operating state is reduced to a constant field intensity, rather than to zero.

[0035] By means of the Alfvén wave deflecting the nanoparticle 5, treatments for destroying the tumour cell 1 can be used which are significantly shorter than those known from the prior art. Possible treatment lengths with the device 7 according to the invention are, for example, 10-60 seconds. In order to achieve this, the control device 10 actuates the primary coil 8 and the secondary coil 9 in the above-mentioned manner over a maximum period of 60 seconds or even over a period of essentially 10 seconds.

[0036] Due to its compact design, the present device 7 is particularly suitable for mobile uses, since the coils 8, 9 shown in FIG. 2 can be compactly installed in a handheld device, for example, in the size of an ultrasonic probe as it is used for applications in soft-tissue examinations, in gynaecology or in case of muscle injuries. The control unit 10 can thus be installed compactly in the same handheld device or can be arranged externally, e.g., in the above-mentioned computer, which in turn can be connected to the handheld device with a cable or wirelessly.

[0037] Furthermore, the efficiency of the treatment can be selected precisely with the device 7, either via the duration of the treatment or via the selection of the strength of the magnetic field. This can be necessary in particular if, as a result of an excessively high degree of efficiency of the device 7, the amount of destroyed oncological tissue is above a threshold above which a health risk, e.g., sepsis or blood poisoning, might occur. However, depending on the treatment, this can be avoided, for example, if tumour cells 1 remaining after surgical tumour removal are destroyed with the device 7.