Targeted Delivery of Chemotherapy With Ultrasound and Microbublles

Overview

The oscillations of ultrasound (US) contrast agent microbubbles under their activation by US waves engender a modulation of the permeability of biological barriers amplifying hence the extravasation of drugs and/or fluorescent markers through a process known as sonoporation. In such a way, the bioavailability of the therapeutic agent is augmented only in the area where US waves are focused. The objective now is to translate this therapeutic approach to the clinic by performing a feasibility study with the development of a therapy regime optimized for hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer. In order to demonstrate the clinical feasibility of the therapeutic approach based on ultrasound and microbubbles, we will focus on patients with liver metastases of colorectal cancer treated with monoclonal antibodies in combination with chemotherapy.

Despite the increasing number of active molecules and the availability of news targeted therapies for cancer, therapeutic achievements remain modest for a number of tumor types. One of the major obstacles is inherent to the absence of specific delivery in the tumor tissue. We have demonstrated recently that the oscillations of ultrasound (US) contrast agent microbubbles under their activation by US waves engender a modulation of the permeability of biological barriers amplifying hence the extravasation of drugs and/or fluorescent markers through a process known as sonoporation. In such a way, the bioavailability of the therapeutic agent is augmented only in the area where US waves are focused. The objective now is to translate this therapeutic approach to the clinic by performing a feasibility study with the development of a therapy regime optimized for hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer. In order to demonstrate the clinical feasibility of the therapeutic approach based on ultrasound and microbubbles, we will focus on patients with liver metastases of colorectal cancer treated with monoclonal antibodies in combination with chemotherapy. The work aims into evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of the proposed approach on a number of selected patients. We will follow the usual treatment schemes and we will apply imaging protocols to visualize tumor progression. This technique of optimization of the intratumoral availability of anticancer drugs and based on sonoporation will improve the efficacy and safety of systemic chemotherapy by providing increased tumor uptake relative to normal tissue. This technique provides an ideal and easy strategy to optimize intratumoral drug delivery.