Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Nanobubbles Deliver Targeted Cancer Drugs Using Ultrasound

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Abstract:
A new targeted drug delivery method uses ultrasound to image tumors, while also releasing the drug from "nanobubbles" into the tumor.

Nanobubbles Deliver Targeted Cancer Drugs Using Ultrasound

Salt Lake City, UT | Posted on July 10th, 2007

Cancer drugs can be targeted to tumors by delivering them in packets of nanoparticles, then releasing them with ultrasound. But this approach can be difficult because it requires a way to image the tumor prior to treatment.

Natalya Rapoport, Ph.D., D.Sc., of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and colleagues describe a new method of drug delivery that may address this problem. Nanobubbles filled with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin were injected into mice. The bubbles accumulated in the tumors, where they combined to form larger "microbubbles." When exposed to ultrasound, the bubbles generated echoes, which made it possible to image the tumor. The sound energy from the ultrasound popped the bubbles, releasing the drug. In mice treated with this method, the nanobubbles were more effective at blocking tumor growth than other nanoparticle delivery methods.

"Microbubble formulations have been developed for combining ultrasonic tumor imaging and ultrasound-enhanced chemotherapeutic treatment," the authors write.

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About Journal of the National Cancer Institute
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute (print ISSN: 0027-8874, online ISSN: 1460-2105) publishes peer-reviewed original research from around the world and is internationally acclaimed as the source for the most up-to-date news and information from the rapidly changing fields of cancer research and treatment. For the past several years, the JNCI has been ranked as the most-cited original-research cancer journal by the Institute of Scientific Information in its annual Journal Citation Reports. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute's impact factor for 2006, as reported in 2007, was 15.271.

JNCI is indexed and abstracted by the following: Biological Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, CINAHL Information Systems, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences, Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus, Institute for Scientific Information, Sociedad Iberoamericana de Información Científica (SIIC) Data Bases, and Statistical Reference Index.

JNCI is published twice monthly by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the United States National Cancer Institute.

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Contacts:
Natalya Rapoport, (801) 581-8990

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