The contribution of hypoxia to chemoresistance, radioresistance, vasculature alterations, complex blood flow, and genomic instability are well documented. By reverting hypoxia via epigenetic programming by re-oxygenation of tumorigenic cells (cells in hypoxia are 2-3 times less receptive to radiation and subsequent therapies than normal cells), the hypoxia-adaptive pathways can be destabilized to significantly suppress tumor progression opening the door for improved chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Thus an effective oxygen delivery system could significantly impact the efficacy of cancer therapy. Further, the ability to steer the particles by ultrasound to enhance localization and the ability to burst the bubbles to deliver cargo (oxygen and drug) by an ultrasound trigger provides a significant opportunity in improving targeting and delivery efficacy. Based on preliminary discussions, this I-Corps team expects that pharmaceutical companies will be receptive to furthering the proposed oxygen delivery concepts to develop a solution that is practical to impact not only cancer treatment but other diseases as well. Delivery of oxygen can impact a range of biomedical applications that can impact treatment in addition to cancer cure, examples include oxygenation of stem cells trapped in biomaterials, oxygenation of islets cells to treat diabetes, and oxygenation to treat ischemic heart tissues and other hypoxic cardiovascular diseases.
This team's key innovation is the ability to precisely steer nanobubbles for enhanced localization to effect therapy. An example is in epigenetic programming to revert hypoxia with minimal side effects and to enhance efficacy of subsequent therapies. The team expects to add a new dimension to the well-established clinical utility of ultrasound-assisted cancer diagnosis and to significantly benefit a range of therapeutic drug deliveries by precision ultrasound guiding and focused triggered release of cargo (oxygen and or drugs). Initial discussions with several customers are in progress on the proposed technology. The I-Corps program will enable the team to identify promising market opportunities, understand the most important needs of customers and strategic partners, and determine the optimal path for commercialization. This team is hopeful that an outcome of our customer discovery will be a new startup business and an SBIR Phase I proposal or licensing of the technology to a commercial partner.
