Cancer is the second most common cause of death. One of the most important factors determining high mortality is late diagnosis and resistance to chemotherapy. The resistance of cancer cells to drugs may be due to the high amount of collagen fibres in the tumour cellular matrix. Due to these properties, the penetration of cytotoxic substances in tumour tissue and access to tumour cells is limited.
Ultrasound (UT) is used to increase the uptake of anticancer drugs into tumour cells. UT interactions with microbubbles (MBs) are associated with stable and inert cavitation, resulting in cellular sonoporation. Due to UT propagation properties, cellular sonoporation can be caused in almost all areas of the body, which is very attractive in controlled and targeted drug delivery. Because MBs are polydispersed in size, their resonant frequency is different. This project will model and develop a system to generate MB resonant frequency and assess the effect it has on the penetration of the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin into tumour cells.
Project funding:
KTU R&D&I Fund
Period of project implementation: 2019-04-01 - 2019-12-31
Project partners: Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University
