Cancer drug coated microbubbles used to destroy malignant tumours

To solve the problems faced in chemotherapy, scientists came up with a technique of ‘bubble shots’ to deliver cancer drugs into the cancer affected cells. Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore created micro-sized gas bubbles coated with cancer drug particles and iron oxide nanoparticles, and then used magnets to direct these bubbles to surround a specific tumour. Then ultrasound is used to vibrate the microbubbles, providing the energy to direct the particles into a targeted area.

The main drawback of chemotherapy is that the drugs are largely non-targeted. The drug particles flow in the bloodstream, damaging both healthy and cancerous cells. These drugs are flushed out quickly in organs such as the lungs and liver, which limit effectiveness. The remaining drugs are unable to penetrate deep into the core of the malignant tumour, leaving some cancer cells alive. These cancer cells are responsible for growth of another malignant tumour.

“For anti-cancer drugs to achieve their best effectiveness, they need to penetrate into the tumour efficiently in order to reach the cystoplasm of all the cancer cells that are being targeted without affecting the normal cells,“ said Chia Sing Joo from NTU.

Ultrasound uses sound-waves with frequencies higher than those heard by the human ear. It is commonly used for medical imaging such as to get diagnostic images, researchers said.

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