Combining protein therapy and focused ultrasound therapy can improve cancer treatment

February 21, 2025
3:40 pm

Combining an existing small-molecule protein therapy called tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) with focused ultrasound (FUS) can significantly reduce tumor size and burden in prostate cancer models, according to a new study published in Advanced Science by researchers at Rice University and Vanderbilt University.

Around the world, about 10 million people die of cancer each year. This collaborative study, led by Michael King, the E.D. Butcher Professor of Bioengineering in the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing at Rice, and Charles Caskey, associate professor in radiology and radiological sciences at Vanderbilt, is the first to demonstrate that low-intensity mechanical force in combination with TRAIL can treat cancers.

The study sheds new light on how low-intensity focused ultrasound and soluble TRAIL specifically destroy cancer cells within the compact environment of a primary prostate cancer lesion.

Combining protein therapy and focused ultrasound therapy can improve cancer treatment

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