Bubbles deliver cancer drugs to tumors with a pop

WORLD / Health

Bubbles deliver cancer drugs to tumors with a pop

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-07-12 02:08

Tiny bubbles injected in mice delivered potent cancer drugs to tumors
without harming surrounding tissue, a U.S. researcher said on Tuesday, in
a finding that may lead to new targeted cancer therapies.

The technique uses ultrasound imaging to track the drug in the body and
release it with a pop once it has reached its target.

"Imagine soap bubbles," said Natalya Rapoport of the University of Utah's
Department of Bioengineering. "Now imagine a drug in the soap bubbles."

When injected in the bloodstream, these tiny bubbles loaded with the
chemotherapy drug doxorubicin seek out cancer tumors and congregate.

"These nanobubbles don't penetrate normal blood vessels but they do
penetrate blood vessels in the tumor," said Rapoport, whose study appears
in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Once in the tumor, the nanobubbles combine to form larger "microbubbles,"
which can be seen on an ultrasound.

"When these bubbles accumulate, I give strong ultrasound radiation to the
tumor to blow them up," she said in a telephone interview. "Then the drug
gets out of these bubbles locally at the tumor site."

In mice, the nanobubbles were more effective at blocking tumor growth
than other nanoparticle delivery methods.

"So far, we tried it in mice with human breast cancer tumors. We got very
promising results," she said.

Rapoport will test the therapy in larger animals and hopes to start human
clinical trials in three years.

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