Journal
JOURNAL OF DRUG TARGETING
Volume 26, Issue 5-6, Pages 420-434Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/1061186X.2017.1419362
Keywords
Microbubbles; microbubble contrast agents; targeting; imaging; molecular imaging; targeted imaging
Categories
Funding
- NIH - National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health [R01 EB023055]
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL IMAGING AND BIOENGINEERING [R01EB023055] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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For contrast ultrasound imaging, the most efficient contrast agents comprise highly compressible gas-filled microbubbles. These micrometer-sized particles are typically filled with low-solubility perfluorocarbon gases, and coated with a thin shell, often a lipid monolayer. These particles circulate in the bloodstream for several minutes; they demonstrate good safety and are already in widespread clinical use as blood pool agents with very low dosage necessary (sub-mg per injection). As ultrasound is an ubiquitous medical imaging modality, with tens of millions of exams conducted annually, its use for molecular/targeted imaging of biomarkers of disease may enable wider implementation of personalised medicine applications, precision medicine, non-invasive quantification of biomarkers, targeted guidance of biopsy and therapy in real time. To achieve this capability, microbubbles are decorated with targeting ligands, possessing specific affinity towards vascular biomarkers of disease, such as tumour neovasculature or areas of inflammation, ischaemia-reperfusion injury or ischaemic memory. Once bound to the target, microbubbles can be selectively visualised to delineate disease location by ultrasound imaging. This review discusses the general design trends and approaches for such molecular ultrasound imaging agents, which are currently at the advanced stages of development, and are evolving towards widespread clinical trials.
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