Bubble-powered therapy: targeted prostate cancer treatment with fewer side effects
Grant Information
Institution - University of Ulster
Lead Researcher - Professor John Callan
Grant Award - £250,950
Duration of Funding - 2019-2023
Status – Complete
Reference - RIA18-ST2-003
We’re thrilled to have found a brand-new way of directing chemotherapy drugs to prostate cancer cells -making the drug more effective and reducing unwanted side effects.
Why did we fund this project?
- Men with advanced prostate cancer may be treated with powerful chemotherapy drugs that kill cancer cells. However, these drugs can also harm healthy cells in other parts of the body, causing unwanted side effects.
- Professor Callan and his team wanted to develop a new way of delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to prostate cancer cells by packaging the drugs inside tiny microbubbles.
- These microbubbles can be ‘popped’ using sound waves aimed at the prostate, so that the drugs are only released near the cancer cells. This way, less of the drug reaches healthy cells in the rest of the body, which could reduce side effects.
What did the team do?
- The team developed an effective way to make microbubbles filled with a chemotherapy drug and then tested the microbubbles in models of prostate cancer.
- They wanted to find out if this microbubble delivery system could kill cancer cells as effectively as existing treatments.
- The team also needed to make sure that the microbubbles were safe and didn’t affect other parts of the body that don’t have cancer.
What did the team achieve?
- The team found that the microbubble drug delivery system was very effective at killing prostate cancer cells, and that they could use a much lower dose of the chemotherapy drug than in current treatments.
- Encouragingly, the microbubbles were able to kill cancer cells in models of advanced prostate cancer that have become resistant to hormone therapy.
- Importantly, healthy cells in other areas of the body were not harmed by the treatment.
How will this benefit men?
- The team now plan to test the microbubbles in clinical trials with men who have advanced prostate cancer.
- This new approach could allow men to receive chemotherapy at a much lower dose, as the treatment would be delivered directly to the cancer cells.
- Men may also have fewer side effects as the treatment would be less likely to harm other parts of the body that don't have cancer.
With your help we can beat prostate cancer, together
With your continued support you can help us cure more men with less harm. Take action today and help us work towards a future where men's lives aren't limited by prostate cancer
