Cancer blast breakthrough

Scientists working at the University of Dundee have discovered a way to use military technology to destroy cancer cells, writes Stefan Morkis. The “sniper treatment” could be available to patients in as little as five years. In an article published in Nature-Physics, researchers revealed they have found a way to kill cancer cells by using a single blast of ultrasound.

The technique was discovered using photographic techniques originally developed by the Army and it is hoped it could lead to the end of invasive surgery and extensive drug treatment for cancer sufferers.

Previous research had discovered that gas bubbles cluster round cancer cells if injected intravenously. Scientists at Dundee University then found that if these bubbles are stimulated by a microsecond burst of high intensity ultrasound energy, they puncture the cancer cells and kill them.

The research has been led by Dr Paul Campbell from the university and Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri at the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology at Ninewells Hospital.

They were able to establish the new system by utilising an ultra-fast imaging system that can take photographs at one million frames per second. This had originally been developed by the army to observe the impact of ballistic shells and bullets with armour plates.

Dr Campbell said, “Conventional cancer treatment usually requires surgery to cut out the diseased tissues, causing significant trauma, pain and discomfort to the patient, often delaying recovery for an extended period of many months.

“This new ultrasound treatment can focus energy directly to a tumour site inside the body and deliver a single blast of energy without harming the surrounding tissue.”

It is hoped the treatment could eventually make systemic chemotherapy a thing of the past.

“The ultrasound-activated bubbles target with single cell precision, so that the technique overall is a little like sniping at specific cancer cells, whilst ensuring healthy tissues remain untouched.”

The research is the culmination of a three-year project funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council but Dr Campbell believes that more funding is needed to ensure the full benefits of the treatment are realised.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=14033

News-Medical.Net

Single blast of ultrasound destroys cancer cells

Devices/Technology

Tuesday, 25-Oct-2005

Scientists at the University of Dundee have demonstrated that cancer cells can be targeted and destroyed by a single blast of ultrasound according to an article published in leading scientific journal "Nature-Physics".
Military technology has been used to develop and prove this ground breaking technique that will end the need for traumatic surgery and extensive drug therapy for cancer patients.

The treatment is not specific to one particular type of cancer and could subject to clinical trials be available to all cancer patients in as little as 5 years.

Previous research has shown that gas bubbles injected intravenously will naturally cluster around the cancerous cells. The team from Dundee have proved for the first time that when those bubbles are stimulated by a microsecond range burst of high intensity ultrasound energy, the gas bubbles can puncture the cancer cells and kill them. They were able to establish this process beyond doubt using an ultra-fast imaging system, photographing a million frames per second, and developed by the army specifically to observe the impact of ballistic shells and bullets with armour plates.

The research has been led by physicist Dr Paul Campbell at the University of Dundee, and Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri at the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. Prof Cuschieri is a pioneering figure in the area of keyhole surgery and continues to develop routes to less invasive surgical procedures. Advanced optics involving lasers and holography to hold the gas bubbles close to the tissue plane using only the force of light itself were developed by Paul Prentice, a PhD student with Dr Campbell's group, in collaboration with Professor Kishan Dholakia at St Andrews University.

Commenting on the research, Dr Paul Campbell said: "Conventional cancer treatment usually requires surgery to cut out the diseased tissues, causing significant trauma, pain and discomfort to the patient, often delaying recovery for extended period of many months. This new ultrasound treatment can focus energy directly to a tumour site inside the body and deliver a single blast of energy, without harming any surrounding tissues."

The ultrasound treatment could eventually make systemic chemotherapy treatments a thing of the past. The gas bubbles injected into the cancer patient can be coated with anti-cancer drugs that then enter the punctured cancer cells. The drugs are therefore targeted to flood only the cancer cells in a one shot process, rather than repeatedly flooding the patient's entire body with the chemotherapy drugs. Such coated bubbles have already been developed in the United States. This should dramatically reduce the patient's recovery time and the associated pain and suffering of surgery and chemotherapy.

" It is a sniper treatment for cancer" said Dr Campbell. "The ultrasound activated bubbles target with single cell precision, so that the technique overall is a little like sniping at specific cancer cells, whilst ensuring that healthy tissues remain untouched."

"Our research has proved that the injected gas bubbles react to the ultrasound by instantaneously inflating just like a party balloon. Then they do something quite incredible. The shell of the inflated bubble deforms to develop a fast moving spike directed back into the nearby cancerous cell. When the spike hits the cell membrane it punches through it like a bullet, creating a tiny 'entrance wound' and allowing passage of molecules, which have included drugs, directly into those cells.

"For low ultrasound intensities, the membranes appear to be able to reseal themselves soon afterwards, effectively locking any drug molecules inside. On the other hand, for higher intensity levels of ultrasound, the damage may be so severe that the cancer cells can be killed outright."

The research, which represents the culmination of a three year project funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to the tune of over £630,000, has also involved direct collaboration with a world-leading molecular delivery group at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA.

"What we have achieved here is an important step forward in our understanding of the processes at large. In order to fully capitalise on this new knowledge however, it is critical that we achieve further funding to push the boundaries of this technology into fullscale clinical trials on humans.

"The benefits are clear: no incisions, no scars, no trauma and a much reduced chance of MRSA infection. This approach could represent the future of surgery and we certainly have the drive and indeed expertise to see this through given the opportunity."

Dr Campbell believes this is a win win situation for everyone concerned: "Not only will this benefit patient but the NHS as a whole by reducing the cost in the long term of treating cancer patients. Hospitals would be able to perform the treatment by undertaking minor modifications to their existing ultrasound equipment"

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/

Sniper Treatment Spells Significant breakthrough in approach to Cancer

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/49474.html

Sniper’ to kill cancer

JAMES MOREAN October 25 2005

A CANCER treatment which eliminates the need for chemotherapy or surgery could be available within five years, a Scots scientist said yesterday.
Pioneering research at Dundee University has refined "sniper treatment" which fires ultrasound waves to destroy cancer cells, while ensuring that surrounding healthy tissues remain untouched.

The researchers said that hospitals would be able to perform the treatment by undertaking only minor modifications to their existing ultrasound equipment.
In a paper published in the journal Nature-Physics yesterday, the team members described how they harnessed military camera technology to discover how the sniper treatment kills cancer cells.

Scientists compared the use of gas micro-bubbles stimulated by a burst of ultrasound energy to a bullet which creates an "entrance wound" and allows anti-cancer drugs directly into the cell.

Their findings pave the way for the first human clinical trials of the technique, which is designed to be effective against the majority of cancers.
It has already undergone successful animal trials in the US.

The team, led by Dr Paul Campbell and Professor Alfred Cuschieri, is applying for funding to begin clinical trials on patients with liver and skin cancer at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Dr Campbell said: "Conventional cancer treatment usually requires surgery to cut out the diseased tissues, causing significant trauma, pain and discomfort to the patient. This new ultrasound treatment can focus energy directly to a tumour site inside the body and deliver a single blast of energy, without harming any surrounding tissues.

"The benefits are clear: no incisions, no scars, no trauma and a much reduced chance of MRSA infection."

Professor John Toy, Cancer Research UK's medical director, sounded a note of caution: ". . . this technique, yet to be tested in humans, is still a very long way from being a possible alternative approach. Until . . . the technique has gone through clinical trials we won't know if it will prove to be an effective initial treatment for patients."

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