In a new study, researchers have developed a non-invasive technology platform for gene delivery into cancer cells.
The research was conducted by an international research team.
The technique combines ultrasound with tumor-targeted microbubbles.
Microbubbles are microscopic bubbles filled with gas, with a diameter as small as one-tenth of a blood vessel.
Once the ultrasound is activated, the microbubbles explode like smart and targeted warheads, creating holes in cancer cells’ membranes, enabling gene delivery
The technique utilizes low-frequency ultrasound (250 kHz) to detonate microscopic tumor-targeted bubbles. In vivo, cell destruction reached 80% of tumor cells.
In the study, the team discovered that using lower frequencies than those applied previously, microbubbles can strongly expand, until they explode violently.
They realized that this discovery could be used as a platform for cancer treatment and started to inject microbubbles into tumors directly.
The team used tumor-targeted microbubbles that were attached to tumor cells’ membranes at the moment of the explosion and injected them directly into tumors in a mouse model.
About 80% of tumor cells were destroyed in the explosion, which was positive on its own.
The targeted treatment, which is safe and cost-effective, was able to destroy most of the tumor.
However, it is not enough. In order to prevent the remaining cancer cells to spread, researchers needed to destroy all of the tumor cells.
That is why they injected an immunotherapy gene alongside the microbubbles, which acts as a Trojan horse, and signaled the immune system to attack the cancer cell.
On its own, the gene cannot enter into the cancer cells. However, this gene aimed to enhance the immune system was co-injected together with the microbubbles.
Membrane pores were formed in the remaining 20% of the cancer cells that survived the initial explosion, allowing the entry of the gene into the cells. This triggered an immune response that destroyed the cancer cell.
The team says the majority of cancer cells were destroyed by the explosion, and the remaining cells consumed the immunotherapy gene through the holes that were created in their membranes.
The gene caused the cells to produce a substance that triggered the immune system to attack the cancer cell.
The team says that in the future they want to use this technology as a non-invasive treatment for brain-related diseases such as brain tumors and other neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
One author of the study is Dr. Tali Ilovitsh of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tel Aviv University.
The study is published in PNAS.
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