Development and evaluation of an ultrasound-triggered microbubble combined transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) formulation on rabbit VX2 liver cancer model

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2020 papers

Abstract

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is an image-guided locoregional therapy used for the treatment of patients with primary or secondary liver cancer. However, conventional TACE formulations are rapidly dissociated due to the instability of the emulsion, resulting in insufficient local drug concentrations in the target tumor. Methods: To overcome these limitations, a doxorubicin-loaded albumin nanoparticle-conjugated microbubble complex in an iodized oil emulsion (DOX-NPs-MB complex in Lipiodol) has been developed as a new ultrasound-triggered TACE formulation. Results: (1) Microbubbles enhanced therapeutic efficacy by effectively delivering doxorubicin- loaded nanoparticles into liver tumors via sonoporation under ultrasound irradiation (US+). (2) Microbubbles constituting the complex retained their function as an ultrasound contrast agent in Lipiodol. In a rabbit VX2 liver cancer model, the in vivo study of DOX-NPs-MB complex in Lipiodol (US+) decreased the viability of tumor more than the conventional TACE formulation, and in particular, effectively killed cancer cells in the tumor periphery. Conclusion: Incorporation of doxorubicin-loaded microbubble in the TACE formulation facilitated drug delivery to the tumor with real-time monitoring and enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of TACE. Thus, the enhanced TACE formulation may represent a new treatment strategy against liver cancer.

Related Papers

• → Mechanisms underlying sonoporation: Interaction between microbubbles and cells(2020)170 cited
• → Real-time sonoporation through HeLa cells(2012)2 cited
• → To improve the outcome of intracellular delivery by microbubble-facilitated sonoporation.(2011)1 cited
• → Sonoporation of endothelial cells with CD31-targeted microbubbles at low acoustic pressures(2009)1 cited
• → [The effect of secondary Bjerknes force in sonoporation on cell by ultrasound-mediated microbubbles].(2018)2 cited