Ultrasound theranostics with bubble liposomes

Theranostics refers to be the combination of disease diagnosis and therapy. Bubble liposomes (BL) hold significant potential for theranostics applications, given their propensity to be visualized in vivo with extremely high sensitivity, their ability to improve drug delivery across biologic barriers, and the possible of loading therapeutic molecules into or onto their shell. The combination of ultrasound exposure and BL can be utilized to enhance drug delivery efficiency in ultrasound-mediated delivery systems. Ultrasound-induced microstreams/microjets in fluid surrounding the BL form transient pores in the plasma membrane through which exogenous materials such as plasmid DNA, siRNA, proteins and/or drugs in the fluid can then enter the cell. The combination of ultrasound exposure and BL is also a novel strategy for antigen delivery in dendritic cell (DC)-based cancer immunotherapy, thus making the prevention of metastasis in therapeutic models of antigen delivery into DCs possible.