New Concordia Research Shows Ultrasound-Microbubble Technique Could Boost Cancer Immunotherapy

Concordia University researchers have revealed an innovative cancer treatment using ultrasound-guided microbubbles to enhance the body’s immune response. This technique could significantly advance current cancer therapies and offer a non-invasive, repeatable option for patients.

In a new study, researchers at Concordia University led by Ana Baez, a doctoral candidate in biology, have proposed a groundbreaking method to combat cancer. This novel approach utilizes ultrasound-guided microbubbles — widely used in medical imaging and drug delivery — to enhance the immune system’s response against tumors.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, suggests that ultrasound can modify the behavior of cancer-fighting T cells by increasing their cell permeability, which then influences the release of over 90 types of cytokines. Cytokines are crucial signaling molecules in the immune response.

“We’re combining the use of ultrasound and microbubbles to help modulate brain immunology with the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy, which is the harnessing of our own immune cells to fight cancer,” supervising author Brandon Helfield, an associate professor of biology and physics, said in a news release.

In their experiments, the Concordia team targeted freshly isolated human immune cells with focused ultrasound beams and clinically approved contrast agent microbubbles.

The microbubbles, when hit with ultrasound, vibrate at high frequencies and manipulate the walls of the T cell membranes. This action mimics the T cell’s natural response to an antigen, prompting the cells to secrete essential signaling molecules — a process typically hindered within a tumor’s hostile environment.

“The microbubbles can re-activate the cells that have been turned off inside the tumor,” Baez said in the news release. “This process will help them release the proteins that are needed to grow additional immune and blood cells, which creates a positive feedback loop.”

The researchers observed that changes in cytokine secretion were time-dependent, with cytokine levels increasing between 0.1 to 3.6 times compared to untreated cells over 48 hours. However, an increase in cell permeability due to ultrasound generally led to a decrease in cytokine release.

Though currently demonstrated through preliminary benchtop experiments, the findings hold significant promise.

“We already use microbubbles clinically as image-guided tools,” added Helfield, who is also a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Molecular Biophysics in Human Health. “In the future, we could manipulate the beam to go from imaging to a therapeutic sequence. This would localize the effect on the T cells so you are only activating the ones where the beam is.”

“We may also be able to include cancer-fighting drugs that target the tumor in the treatment. The technique is completely non-invasive, so we can always repeat it,” Baez added.

The research could not only deepen the understanding of immune response pathways but also significantly enhance and complement existing cancer treatments.