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SUMMARY:Temporal and spatial control of drug delivery within the brain usi
 ng focused ultrasound - John N. J. Reynolds Department of Anatomy\, and th
 e Brain Health Research Centre\, University of Otago\, NZ
DTSTART:20211216T090000Z
DTEND:20211216T100000Z
UID:TALK166873@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Kirsty Shepherd
DESCRIPTION:Treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumours remains a ma
 jor challenge. In particular\, limitations due to the incomplete surgical 
 removal\, drug side effects and resistance\, and the impermeability of the
  blood-brain barrier (BBB) to most chemotherapeutic drugs together make br
 ain tumours extremely difficult to treat. To this end\, a non-invasive and
  selective strategy that locally increases the permeability of the tumour 
 vascular bed is important for: (i) delivering therapeutic agents at a suff
 iciently high concentration to the targeted brain tumour\, while (ii) mini
 mizing the overall systemic concentration and off-axis side effects. Focus
 ed ultrasound (FUS) is currently the only technique that can induce locali
 sed opening of the BBB. In combination with ultrasound-responsive lipid 
 ‘packages’ such as liposomes that can transport and prolong the circul
 ation lifetime of cytotoxic drugs\, FUS offers a cutting edge potential fo
 r targeted brain drug delivery to tumours while minimising systemic side-e
 ffects.\n\nOur approach is to apply ultrasound from multielement transduce
 rs focused through the skull to the brain target area\, combined with lipo
 somes circulating in the blood stream\, rendered sensitive to ultrasound b
 y various chemistry specialisations. Our FUS transducers are extracranial\
 , to avoid risks from implanting through the skull\, and wearable\, so the
  patient can move freely during treatment. We have achieved proof of conce
 pt by observing the behavioural effects of release of dopamine-like drugs 
 from liposomes into deep brain targets\, in both rats and sheep. This offe
 rs the potential for temporal and spatial control of dopamine replacement 
 in Parkinson’s disease (PD)\, to stave off the side effects that limit t
 he duration of effectiveness of most PD treatments. In this talk I will re
 view our journey to develop a system for targeted drug delivery for PD tha
 t we are now applying to brain tumour treatment\, with the vision of ongoi
 ng therapy without the repeated need for MRI imaging of the target or surg
 ical implantation
LOCATION:Meeting ID: 857 4551 8674 Passcode: 540802
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