Ultrasound contrast agents and their use in monitoring therapy

Abstract

The shell of ultrasound contrast agents can be modified to include a molecular targeting ligand, and the properties of the agent with and without molecular targeting can be used to monitor changes produced by a therapy. We have investigated the use of ligands targeted to an integrin expressed in cancer, whose expression correlates with tumor grade. Acoustic studies illustrate a 3- to 20-fold increase in echo amplitude from integrin-expressing cells exposed to the targeted contrast agent, as compared to controls, and depending on cell type, stimulation, and targeting ligand. Changes in integrin expression with therapy may be important in future studies. We have also developed a system to quantify small changes in vascular parameters due to effects of new anti-angiogenic drugs using the intrinsic properties of contrast agents. Regions containing intravascular contrast agents are identified using a strategy that combines subharmonic and phase inversion imaging. As predicted by a Rayleigh–Plesset analysis, this strategy can successfully detect flow over a range of transmission frequencies from 4–6 MHz. We demonstrate that regions of viable tumor as small as 1 mm, as verified by histology, can be detected and show similar morphology to images acquired with computed tomography (CT).