The development of targeted therapies using finite element analysis

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The objective of the proposed research program is to develop new treatment techniques for cancer through computational modelling.  Modelling can be used to create and advance innovative treatment methods and to predict the efficacy of current treatments.  This proposal focuses on a new approach to minimally invasive therapy using magnetic nanoparticles and on a treatment monitoring technique using high frequency ultrasound.   The challenge in minimally invasive therapies is the localization of the treatment dose to the tumour while sparing nearby critical tissue, and the treatment of large numbers of disseminated tumour nodules.  Magnetocarcinotherapy (MCT) is a non-invasive approach to combine the detection, imaging, and treatment of cancer into a single modality by using magnetic nanoparticles.  It involves attaching cancer targeting peptides to the particles to enhance their uptake by cancer cells.  Once localized in a tumour region, the particles are rotated to produce localized heating due to the friction between the particles and their surroundings, resulting in the destruction of the tumour while sparing normal tissue. Currently, the only way to assess the outcome of a treatment such as MCT is to expose a patient to the treatment and then image or surgically biopsy the tumour several weeks after the termination of treatment.  The ability to predict the outcome of treatment shortly after delivery will provide the physician the option of altering the treatment to improve its outcome. A common response of cells undergoing cancer treatment is apoptosis (programmed cell death), which is induced within hours of treatment.  It has recently been discovered that cells undergoing apoptosis scatter ultrasound more efficiently.  My research will focus on determining the basis for this effect and to determine of changes that are important for using this technique for treatment monitoring.