Department of Neurosurgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201.
Experimental Therapeutics Program & Brain Tumor Treatment and Research Center, University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21201.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Sep 14;118(37). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2103280118.
Pharmacological treatment of gliomas and other brain-infiltrating tumors remains challenging due to limited delivery of most therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Transcranial MRI-guided focused ultrasound (FUS), an emerging technology for noninvasive brain treatments, enables transient opening of the BBB through acoustic activation of circulating microbubbles. Here, we evaluate the safety and utility of transcranial microbubble-enhanced FUS (MB-FUS) for spatially targeted BBB opening in patients with infiltrating gliomas. In this Phase 0 clinical trial (NCT03322813), we conducted comparative and quantitative analyses of FUS exposures (sonications) and their effects on gliomas using MRI, histopathology, microbubble acoustic emissions (harmonic dose [HD]), and fluorescence-guided surgery metrics. Contrast-enhanced MRI and histopathology indicated safe and reproducible BBB opening in all patients. These observations occurred using a power cycling closed feedback loop controller, with the power varying by nearly an order of magnitude on average. This range underscores the need for monitoring and titrating the exposure on a patient-by-patient basis. We found a positive correlation between microbubble acoustic emissions (HD) and MR-evident BBB opening ( = 0.07) and associated interstitial changes ( < 0.01), demonstrating the unique capability to titrate the MB-FUS effects in gliomas. Importantly, we identified a 2.2-fold increase of fluorescein accumulation in MB-FUS-treated compared to untreated nonenhancing tumor tissues ( < 0.01) while accounting for vascular density. Collectively, this study demonstrates the capabilities of MB-FUS for safe, localized, controlled BBB opening and highlights the potential of this technology to improve the surgical and pharmacologic treatment of brain tumors.
由于大多数治疗药物在血脑屏障 (BBB) 中的传递受限,因此胶质瘤和其他脑浸润性肿瘤的药物治疗仍然具有挑战性。经颅 MRI 引导的聚焦超声 (FUS) 是一种用于非侵入性脑治疗的新兴技术,它通过循环微泡的声激活来实现 BBB 的瞬时开放。在这里,我们评估了经颅微泡增强 FUS(MB-FUS)在浸润性脑肿瘤患者中进行空间靶向 BBB 开放的安全性和实用性。在这项 0 期临床试验 (NCT03322813) 中,我们使用 MRI、组织病理学、微泡声发射 (谐波剂量 [HD]) 和荧光引导手术指标,对 FUS 暴露(超声)及其对脑肿瘤的影响进行了比较和定量分析。对比增强 MRI 和组织病理学表明所有患者的 BBB 开放均安全且可重复。这些观察结果是使用功率循环闭环反馈控制器获得的,平均而言,功率变化近一个数量级。这一范围突显了在患者基础上监测和调整暴露的必要性。我们发现微泡声发射 (HD) 与 MRI 显示的 BBB 开放 ( = 0.07) 和相关的间质变化 ( < 0.01) 之间存在正相关,这表明能够对脑肿瘤中的 MB-FUS 效应进行滴定。重要的是,与未经 MB-FUS 治疗的非增强肿瘤组织相比,我们发现 MB-FUS 治疗组的荧光素积累增加了 2.2 倍 ( < 0.01),同时考虑到血管密度。总的来说,这项研究证明了 MB-FUS 安全、局部、可控地打开 BBB 的能力,并强调了这项技术提高脑肿瘤手术和药物治疗效果的潜力。