Beating cancer with bubbles

Our scientists designed a method that could make chemotherapy kinder, by delivering drugs with microscopic bubbles.

Chemotherapy is one of the best ways we can treat cancer. But chemo drugs can kill healthy cells as well as cancer cells, which is why there are unpleasant side effects.

Thanks to SU2C, Professor Eleanor Stride developed a futuristic way to make chemo more targeted.

How? Her team have developed a technique where they coat microscopic bubbles with a dose of chemo and cancer-seeking 'anchors'. Then they inject these directly into the patient’s tumour or in their blood. When an ultrasound beam is aimed at the tumour, it causes the bubbles to vibrate and release the drug, killing the cancer cells while sparing the surrounding healthy cells!

Excitingly, the team showed that their technique worked in mice with bladder cancer, and it caused fewer side effects. Now, Professor Stride is working on taking the technology into clinical trials and investigating if it could be used for other cancer types. She hopes that her method could one day make chemotherapy kinder for those affected by cancer.

Cancer type:

Bladder

Location:

Oxford