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A team of scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have taken a big step toward developing a safer, more powerful way to treat cancer — with something incredibly small.
It starts with a type of cancer treatment called high-intensity focused ultrasound, which uses targeted sound waves to destroy tumors without a blade, an incision or radiation. The procedure has been a game-changer for treating tumors, uterine fibroids and essential tremor, but it usually requires a lot of energy that can heat and damage nearby healthy tissue. And it doesn’t always eliminate all cancer cells, allowing tumors to return.
Michael Henderson, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate, and his team at the OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute wanted to fix that.
“Focused ultrasound has been growing in use, especially for treating prostate cancer. We wanted to see how we can make it not only safer but also more effective at treating cancer,” Henderson said.
Their answer: an incredibly tiny, specially engineered particle — so small it’s about a thousand times thinner than a sheet of paper.
Henderson said the surface of each nanoparticle is covered with microscopic gas bubbles. The nanoparticles are injected into the tumor and when hit with ultrasound, those bubbles rapidly expand and collapse, creating tiny bursts of energy that help break up the tumor’s structure more precisely.
“Our approach here doesn’t use heat. Instead, we use the energy released from the bubbles popping, which reduces the energy required for ultrasound treatment by a hundred fold,” he said.
The nanoparticles are also covered in a sticky molecule, called a peptide, that helps them cling to tumors and enter cancer cells more easily. And for an added punch, scientists loaded a potent chemotherapy drug to the particle’s surface.
“Our particle allows ultrasound treatment to be more efficient, while serving as a drug delivery platform,” Henderson said. He said the idea is that once the ultrasound physically breaks up the tumor, the drug can immediately get to work, destroying any cancer cells left behind.
In lab tests on mice with human melanoma tumors, this dual approach resulted in better outcomes compared to using ultrasound or the drug alone. Tumors shrank — and in some cases, disappeared entirely — with no major side effects.
The researchers’ findings were published in the journal Nano Letters. Henderson said the study has received international attention and that his team will be presenting their findings at a Gordon Research Conference in Italy this summer.
Henderson said the next step is further testing and refining the treatment before moving into clinical trials so that it can eventually be used in people. He said the stability of the nanoparticles and the reduced need for energy makes this treatment scalable and cost-effective for widespread clinical use.
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