Ultrasound microbubble targeted gemcitabine delivery for pancreatic cancer treatment

Studies have shown that treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) with systemic administration of gemcitabine (GEM) is inhibited by excessive desmoplastic connective tissue surrounding the tumor. Ultrasound (US) insonification combined with drug-loaded poly lactic acid (PLA) microbubbles (MB) may circumvent this through targeted delivery to the tumor via increased permeability and lodging of GEM-loaded MB fragments in the tumor tissue. GEM-loaded MB were fabricated through a double emulsion process, and evaluated for efficacy as potential drug delivery agents. Acoustic and physical characterization suggest that GEM encapsulation does not significantly affect MB morphology or contrast activity (p > 0.23 compared with unmodified MB). Inertial cavitation upon exposure to US is not impacted by drug encapsulation, indicated by GEM-loaded MB exhibiting significant size reduction to fragments approximately 400 nm in diameter following insonation (p 0.1). Encapsulation of GEM within the PLA shell of MB resulted in viable drug delivery agents for PDAC treatment.