title: A non-invasive tissue-specific molecular delivery method of cancer gene therapy.
abstract: A Japanese word, monozukuri (literally translated "making things") is the philosophy of first having the idea and then the faith in the technical expertise and experience to accomplish the result. We believe that the concept of engineering is monozukuri. Through the process of monozukuri, engineered natural science based on mathematics and physics has been developed. Medicine is the field of study which has been developed for maintaining daily healthy life with diagnosis, treatment, examination, and protection. Biomedical engineering is the interdisciplinary study of engineering and medicine, and should be developed based on monozukuri. In this particular research, we have developed a physical molecular delivery method for cancer gene therapy using nano/microbubbles and ultrasound. First, the behavior of cavitation bubbles and subsequent shock wave phenomena involved in the mechanism of molecular delivery were analyzed, combining theory and computer simulation. In a second step, the methodology was optimized in vitro and in vivo. Finally, the therapeutic potential of the method in pre-clinical models was evaluated using transgenes relevant to cancer gene therapy instead of reporter genes, and whole body, non-invasive imaging using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) was used to evaluate the selectivity of gene delivery in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University Biomedical Engineering Research Organization, Sendai, Japan. kodama@tubero.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aoi
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vassaux
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hidehiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.forename: Keni-Chiro
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Koshiyama
authors.forename: Takeru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujikawa
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tomita
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D041722:Genes, Transgenic, Suicide; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D045423:Microbubbles; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D012377:Rodentia; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014465:Ultrasonics