High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energized functionalized nanoparticles mediated enhanced thermal ablation of tumors

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High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation has gained endorsement in recent times for treating limited cancer types, e.g., localized prostate cancer. HIFU procedure is not routinely conducted because its targeting effectiveness remained uncertain when compared to standard treatments for localized cancers. HIFU ablation in presence of direct injection of gold nanoparticles into subcutaneous tumors have shown enhanced ablation due to unique acoustic-thermal phenomenon, while thermal damage in adjacent normal tissues was reduced. However, HIFU ablation with direct gold-nanoparticles injection has yet to achieve its full potential because it primarily treats superficial tumors and that the heterogeneous gold-nanoparticles concentration at the injection site leads to uneven heating profiles. The objective is to achieve the goal of focused ablation at reduced HIFU power levels using functionalized-gold-nanoparticles enhanced energy deposition. The use of HIFU heating of systemically injected gold-nanoparticles for ablating deep-seated cancer could guide future larger-scale animal studies and treatment planning in humans. This unique interdisciplinary study links fields of cancer therapy, nanomaterials, bio-heat transfer, wave propagation, image analysis, and non-invasive surgical method, augmenting ongoing collaborations with US FDA and, in turn, benefiting medical and industry community. Undergraduate/minority students will be actively recruited as in the past.The long-term goal is to develop HIFU-gold-nanoparticles ablation methods that selectively target and ablate deep-seated tumors. It is hypothesized that systemically injected functionalized-gold-nanoparticles exposed to reduced HIFU power will lead to improved targeting of tumors and enable uniform heat deposition, while minimizing collateral damage to surrounding tissues. To test the hypothesis, animal models with will be used to assess the efficacy by which functionalized gold-nanoparticles injected into the circulation combined with reduced HIFU power will achieve precise targeting and uniform ablation of prostate cancer. Nanotechnology will be used to develop functional gold-nanoparticles that can recognize specific cell-surface markers overexpressed on prostate cancer cells. It is expected that systemically injected functionalized-gold-nanoparticles will selectively target deep-seated cancer; and that they can be used to both image and ablate prostate cancer tissues with minimal collateral damage to adjacent tissues. This pilot research is expected to provide proof-of-principle that cancer tissues can take up multifunctional gold-nanoparticles and can be selectively ablated, thus developing a novel ablation approaches to treat cancer tissues. Such protocol would improve cancer patient care and management of disease.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.