Ultrasound and Nanomedicine for Cancer-Targeted Drug Delivery: Screening, Cellular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities

Abstract

Cancer is a disease characterized by abnormal cell growth. According to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. It should be noted that ultrasound is already widely used as a diagnostic procedure for detecting tumorigenesis. In addition, ultrasound energy can also be utilized effectively for treating cancer. By filling the interior of lipospheres with gas molecules, these particles can serve both as contrast agents for ultrasonic imaging and as delivery systems for drugs such as microbubbles and nanobubbles. Therefore, this review aims to describe the nanoparticle-assisted drug delivery system and how it can enhance image analysis and biomedicine. The formation characteristics of nanoparticles indicate that they will accumulate at the tumor site upon ultrasonic imaging, in accordance with their modification characteristics. As a result of changing the accumulation of materials, it is possible to examine the results by comparing images of other tumor cell lines. It is also possible to investigate ultrasound images for evidence of cellular effects. In combination with a precision ultrasound imaging system, drug-carrying lipospheres can precisely track tumor tissue and deliver drugs to tumor cells to enhance the ability of this nanocomposite to treat cancer.

Construction of a Tumor-Targeting Nanobubble with Multiple Scattering Interfaces and its Enhancement of Ultrasound Imaging

“…[1][2][3][4] NB backbone-based nanotechnologies are focusing on their fabrication as an ideal tool due to their capacity for passive targeting via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect 5,6 and active targeting by functionalizing specific targeting ligands on the surfaces of NBs while transporting and controlling drug or gene delivery, thereby offering therapeutic potential. [7][8][9][10] However, when applied as ultrasound contrast agents (UCA), NBs commonly exhibit lower contrast signals compared to microbubbles due to the reduced scattering cross-section of a single bubble. 2,11,12 Efforts towards increasing the echogenicity of NBs have also been made in several studies, such as introducing a phase-change gas as the core of NBs when the NBs expand into more echogenic microbubbles under certain conditions, [13][14][15][16] or building a rattle-type mesoporous silica nanostructure with two contributing interfaces.…”

Four-Channel Ultrasonic Sensor for Bulk Liquid and Biochemical Surface Interrogation

“…This technique can also be used for attenuation measurement, though the accuracy potential is less than that of other ultrasonic techniques [6]. While the surface binding of proteins and DNA changes the elasticity and viscosity of the interfacial media, it will also change the time-of-flight signal [1,[7][8][9]. However, TOF changes due to the biomolecule binding process would be marginally small due to the similarity of the density and elasticity of the biomolecules and the solution in which the process is happening.…”