Treating Tumors in Children
Mark Borden | Chemical Engineering
Each year in the U.S., approximately 650 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma,
a cancerous tumor in nerve tissue, most often in the adrenal
glands in the abdomen. For this, and for many other childhood cancers,
surgery is not an option.
At Columbia’s Pediatric Tumor Biology Laboratory, a new way to deliver tumor-killing gene therapy is being developed by Mark Borden, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and his pediatric oncology colleagues. The vehicle is microbubbles, tiny gas bubbles—about 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair—that can be safely injected into the bloodstream without the danger of forming emboli.
In groundbreaking research sponsored by St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which supports research of childhood cancers, Borden has shown that microbubbles can encapsulate tumor-killing gene therapy, protecting the cargo in the bloodstream. When the bubbles are at the tumor site, he uses ultrasound to release the genes into the tumor cells.
“The microbubbles oscillate strongly with ultrasound,” says Borden, “and the bubbles implode, causing holes in the tumor walls. The genes enter the tumor and repair the defective cancer-causing cells.” This methodology is much safer than using viruses to carry the gene therapy to the tumors. Viruses often trigger the body’s natural defenses, including anaphylactic shock, resulting in patient death.
Borden also uses microbubbles to create clearer images of pediatric tumors and assess the efficacy of treatment. Using a contrast medium carried by the microbubbles, high frequency ultrasound can show changes in tumor growth to evaluate how well treatment is working.
After receiving his PhD from the University of California, Davis, Borden was a postdoctoral researcher there in biomedical engineering and in radiology at the Arizona Cancer Center.
