Sensitization of hypoxic tumors to radiation therapy using ultrasound sensitive oxygen microbubbles

Much of the volume of solid tumors typically exists in a chronically hypoxic microenvironment which has been shown to result in both chemo- and radiotherapy resistance. Systemic delivery of oxygen prior to therapy has proven largely ineffective in reversing this resistance. Surfactant-shelled oxygen microbubbles that can be injected intravenously and used to locally elevate tumor oxygen levels when triggered by noninvasive ultrasound have been previously reported. In this work, we show that these agents successfully and consistently increase breast tumor oxygenation levels in a murine model by 20 mmHg, significantly more than control injections of saline or untriggered oxygen microbubbles (p
Source: International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Biology Contribution Source Type: research