Ultrasound-Induced Drug Release Particles for Cancer Therapy Developed

Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues from Hadassah Medical Center have developed hybrid nanostructured particles that can be magnetically guided to the tumor, tracked by their fluorescence and pushed to release the drug on demand by ultrasound. The study was published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 

The team developed multifunctional nanostructured particles containing magnetic nanoparticles, fluorescent Cy5 or Cy7 dyes, and the drug doxorubicin. Dynamic light scattering, fluorescent tomography, and histology studies were performed. 

"Drug delivery carriers were prepared by combination of two methods. The first one was suggested by the co-authors of this article earlier and is called freezing induced method (FIL). This method has been successfully applied for loading of vaterite submicron particles by inorganic nanoparticles, proteins, low molecular drugs etc. The vaterite particles served as templates for drug delivery carriers and were removed after formation of a polymeric shell. Second method is layer by layer assembly that has been used for polymer biodegradable shell formation," researcher Dmitry Gorin explains.

The team used in vitro experiments and in vivo animal studies to show that the method is functional: they were able to show increased targeted delivery of doxorubicin in the liver after ultrasound-mediated release."This technology should pass preclinical studies using animal models to evaluate therapeutic efficiency and safety of such drug delivery system. It will be the next step of our research," researcher Timofei Zatsepin concludes.