Recent advances in magnetic fluid hyperthermia for cancer therapy

•Theory of magnetic fluid hyperthermia to design an effective heat mediator.•Protocols for preparation of water-soluble biofunctional magnetic nanoparticle.•Recent pre-clinical studies of cancer treatment by magnetic fluid hyperthermia.•Combination of hyperthermia with stimulated chemotherapy for enhanced cancer therapy. Recently, magnetic fluid hyperthermia using biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles as heat mediators for cancer therapy has been extensively investigated due to its high efficiency and limited side effects. However, the development of more efficient heat nanomediators that exhibit very high specific absorption rate (SAR) value is essential for clinical application to overcome the several restrictions previously encountered due to the large quantity of nanomaterial required for effective treatment. In this review, we focus on the current progress in the development of magnetic nanoparticles based hyperthermia therapy as well as combined therapy harnessing hyperthermia with heat-mediated drug delivery for cancer treatment. We also address the fundamental principles of magnetic hyperthermia, basics of magnetism including the effect of several parameters on heating capacity, synthetic methods and nanoparticle surface chemistry needed to design and develop an ideal magnetic nanoparticle heat mediator suitable for clinical translation in cancer therapy.