Clinical Pharmacology & Biopharmaceutics
Open Access

Abstract

Cancer treatment usually involves systemic injection of toxic chemotherapeutic agents that cause severe side effects for the patient; it is also relatively inefficient use of expensive toxic drugs. The area of targeted drug delivery in which drugs are delivered in a carrier directly to the cancer has gained much interest in recent years. This approach reduces the side effects of the drug and also provides a direct localized, high-concentration treatment. Micro-bubbles (MBs) as used for Contrast Enhanced Ultra Sound (CEUS) imaging are micron sized gas encapsulated spheres, stabilized with a shell of biocompatible material (e.g., proteins, phospholipids). These MBs are capable of circulating in the vasculature; their high acoustic impedance mismatch with the surrounding tissue provides a strong enhancement of the ultrasound imaging. More recently, there has been considerable interest in the development of MBs as vehicles for drug delivery, by loading them with liposomes encapsulating a drug, the whole complex is functionalized and targeted toward the required location using antibodies, or other ligands. Here I am presenting our group at the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK) developing therapeutic micro-bubbles that act as both agents for CEUS imaging and targeted drug-delivery vehicles. Ultimately, a large amplitude sound wave is used to destroy the bubbles and trigger release of the drug at the targeted tumor. Theranostic MBs are a simple and versatile drug-delivery technique that could potentially improve cancer treatment, both in terms of patient experience and overall drug efficiency. Importantly, they offer new ways of delivering hydrophobic drugs, which have traditionally been difficult to deliver efficiently.

Biography

Email: R.H.Saleh@leeds.ac.uk