Using targeted ultrasound to get immunotherapy drugs past the blood-brain barrier
Aperçu du projet
Stephanie Borlase is investigating ways to improve immunotherapies to treat people whose lung cancer has spread to the brain, improving outcomes. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada, but immunotherapies which trigger the immune system to attack cancers have shown promise. However, when cancers spread to the brain, these immunotherapies are often ineffective as they cannot cross from the bloodstream into the brain due to the blood-brain barrier. With Canadian Cancer Society funding, Stephanie is working with a team to investigate whether focused ultrasound waves can be used to disrupt this barrier, allowing immunotherapies to reach tumours that have spread to the brain. The researchers will develop a radioactive tagged immunotherapy drug, that they can track using scans, to determine how much of the drug is in the tumour after ultrasound treatment. The team will test the safety of this tagged drug in preclinical models, before applying to use the drug in an existing clinical trial. If successful, this project could lead to a new treatment option for people who have had cancer spread to their brain, improving their chances of survival.
Chef d'équipe
Stephanie Borlase , University of Toronto
Partenaire et Donateurs
Canadian Cancer Society