[Imaging Agora] 11/14/16 Nathan McDannold – “Towards Brain Tumor Treatment with Ultrasound Triggered Drug Delivery”
The physiology of the vasculature in the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and other factors, complicates the delivery of most drugs to the brain. Despite having only a partially-intact BBB, brain tumors also pose challenges to drug delivery. Different methods have been used to bypass the BBB and the “blood-tumor barrier” (BTB), but they have limitations such as being invasive, non-targeted or requiring the formulation of new drugs. Focused ultrasound (FUS), when combined with circulating microbubbles, is a noninvasive method to locally and transiently permeabilize the BBB and the BTB. This review will provide insight on the current status of this unique drug delivery technique, experience in preclinical models, and potential for clinical translation for the treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors. If translated to humans, this method could enable the use of the whole arsenal of anticancer drugs that are currently ineffective in brain tumor patients.
Dr. McDannold is an Associate Professor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School. He has been working in the Focused Ultrasound Laboratory at Brigham & Women’s Hospital since 1996. His work has been primarily concerned with the development and implementation of ultrasound-based therapies, image-guidance methods, and clinical focused ultrasound treatments. In recent years, a main focus of his work has been studying the use of ultrasound for temporary disruption of the blood-brain barrier, which may allow for targeted drug delivery in the brain. Dr. McDannold received his PhD in Physics from Tufts University in 2002.