Selective Cancer Treatment Based on High Frequency Ultrasonic Beam

项目摘要/摘要 建议的研究是利用动物研究超声波对活体组织的辐射压力效应。 癌症治疗的典范。关于辐射治疗效果的先前工作的一个主要限制 癌症的压力要么太低，要么声强太低(如果没有聚焦的超声波产生 用于成像的常规换能器)或过高的声强(在高强度聚焦的情况下 利用热效应来消融组织的超声波)。在这里，一种新型的自聚焦声学换能器 能够电改变焦距和强度的(SFAT)将被用来发射直接辐射 在没有热能沉积或大范围空化的情况下，压力作用于活组织 形成，优先杀死癌细胞，而不损害邻近的正常细胞或组织。 许多研究表明，癌细胞比其他细胞更易变形(不那么僵硬) 非恶性对应物。我们的初步研究表明，特定区域内的聚焦声束 与非致瘤性相比，能量范围优先杀死黑色素瘤、前列腺和其他癌细胞 配对的细胞系。此外，我们的数据支持，这是根本性差异的直接结果 恶性转化特有的细胞骨架结构。因此，我们建议进行研究以评估辐射 高聚焦超声对正常和恶性组织的压力效应(如皮下肿瘤和 异种移植)。 由于SFAT只在其焦点处传递预期的声强，因此它可以产生独特的效果 在一个局部点上，而不影响其他地区。此外，它还能够传递声能 通过中间体固体或液体，非常适合于非侵入性肿瘤治疗。因此， 传感器和在其发展过程中遇到的科学发现将成为一种变革性的 该技术广泛适用于皮肤癌和其他恶性肿瘤的治疗。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The proposed research is to study radiant pressure effects of ultrasound on living tissues using animal models for cancer therapeutics. A major limitation of prior work regarding therapeutic effects of radiant pressure on cancer has been either too low acoustic intensity (in case of unfocused ultrasound produced with conventional transducers used for imaging) or too high acoustic intensity (in case of high-intensity focused ultrasound used to ablate tissue with thermal effects). Here, a novel Self-Focusing Acoustic Transducer (SFAT) capable of electrically varying the focal length and intensity will be used to deliver direct radiant pressure forces to living tissues, in the absence of thermal energy deposition or wide-spread cavitation formation, to preferentially kill cancer cells without damaging adjacent normal cells or tissue. Many studies have demonstrated that cancer cells are significantly more deformable (“less stiff”) than non-malignant counterparts. Our preliminary studies show that a focused acoustic beam within a specific energy range preferentially kills melanoma, prostate, and other cancer cells compared with non-tumorogenic matched cell lines. Further, our data supports that this is a direct result of fundamental differences in cytoskeletal architecture specific to malignant transformation. Thus, we propose studies to assess radiant pressure effects of highly focused US on normal and malignant tissue (as subcutaneous tumors and xenografts) in vivo. Since SFATs delivers the intended acoustic intensity only on its focal spot, it can produce unique effects at a local point without affecting other regions. Moreover, it is also capable of delivering acoustic energy through an intermediate solid or liquid, and is very well suited for non-invasive tumor treatment. Thus, the transducer and the scientific findings encountered on the way to its development will serve as a transformative technology broadly applicable for treatment of skin cancer and other malignancies.