Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT) enhances the therapeutic efficacy of paclitaxel and Abraxane® for treatment of human prostate adenocarcinoma in mice

Abstract

Acoustic cluster therapy (ACT) is a novel approach for ultrasound mediated, targeted drug delivery. In the current study, we have investigated ACT in combination with paclitaxel and Abraxane® for treatment of a subcutaneous human prostate adenocarcinoma (PC3) in mice. In combination with paclitaxel (12 mg/kg given i.p)., ACT induced a strong increase in therapeutic efficacy; 120 days after study start, 42% of the animals were in stable, complete remission vs. 0% for the paclitaxel only group and the median survival was increased by 86%. In combination with Abraxane® (12 mg paclitaxel/kg given i.v.), ACT induced a strong increase in the therapeutic efficacy; 60 days after study start 100% of the animals were in stable, remission vs. 0% for the Abraxane® only group, 120 days after study start 67% of the animals were in stable, complete remission vs. 0% for the Abraxane® only group. For the ACT + Abraxane group 100% of the animals were alive after 120 days vs. 0% for the Abraxane® only group. Proof of concept for Acoustic Cluster Therapy has been demonstrated; ACT markedly increases the therapeutic efficacy of both paclitaxel and Abraxane® for treatment of human prostate adenocarcinoma in mice.

Efficient Enhancement of Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability Using Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT)

“…This study demonstrates a new application for ACT which previously has shown great promise in enhancing the delivery of co-injected drugs to solid tumors growing in mice 24 and in treating tumors growing in mice 25.…”

“…Finally, the ACT bubble stays for typically 10 minutes, prolonging the treatment time window compared to regular contrast microbubbles. We have recently shown that this concept can be utilized to induce a strong enhancement of the therapeutic efficacy of paclitaxel and nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane®) for treatment of solid tumors such as human prostate adenocarcinoma growing subcutaneously in athymic mice 25. When combining the ACT treatment with a clinically relevant dose of Abraxane®, all of the treated mice were alive at the end of the study (120 days after treatment start, 99 days after treatment end) and 67% were in complete remission.…”

On the Behaviour of Living Cells under the Influence of Ultrasound

“…Ultrasonic therapeutic modalities in current clinical practice are high-intensity focussed ultrasound (HIFU) [1], extracorporeal shockwave lithotrypsy [2], ultrasound contrast agent-assisted drug delivery [3], and combinations of some of these modalities [4]. Acoustic cluster therapy has shown great promise in a mouse study [5]. The aforementioned therapeutic modalities [1][2][3][4][5] are directed at modifying the macro-structural aspects of tissue.…”

Acoustic bubbles in therapy: Recent advances with medical microbubbles, clouds, and harmonic antibubbles

“…The speakers had been kindly invited by Phoenix Solutions. Per Sontum from Phoenix Solutions gave the introductory talk, titled "Acoustic cluster therapy -a novel approach for ultrasound-mediated targeted drug delivery: technology basics and proof of concept" [7]. Invited speaker Annemieke van Wamel from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology showed that acoustic cluster therapy boosts the delivery of drugs in brains and tumours [8].…”

“…Although the posters were on display throughout the conference, a dedicated poster session has held as well. Nigel Bush from the Institute of Cancer Research showed with a poster that acoustic cluster therapy enhances the therapeutic efficacy of Doxil TM for treatment of triple negative breast cancer in mice [7]. Anastasiia Panfilova from Eindhoven University of Technology had a poster presentation on the relation between contrast-ultrasound kinetic features and microvascular density by acoustic angiography [23].…”