The presently disclosed subject matter provides agents, compositions, and methods for augmenting ablation of a target tissue in a subject in need thereof, for example, using agents that modulate protective and/or reparative cellular processes induced in target tissue by application of ablative energy to the target tissue to sensitize the target tissue to the ablative energy. The presently disclosed subject matter further provides methods for augmenting radiofrequency ablation of cardiac tissue, for example, by applying radiofrequency energy to ablate cardiac tissue in the presence of metallic nanoparticles magnetically guided to the cardiac tissue.