Bubble-assisted ultrasound: Application in immunotherapy and vaccination

Bubble-assisted ultrasound is a versatile technology with great potential in immunotherapy and vaccination. This technology involves the exposure of immune cells (i.e., dendritic cells, lymphocytes) in-vitro or diseased tissues (i.e., brain, tumor) in-vivo to ultrasound treatment with gas bubbles. Bubble destruction leads to physical forces that induce the direct delivery of weakly permeant immuno-stimulatory molecules either into the cytoplasm of immune cells, or through the endothelial barrier of diseased tissues. Hence, therapeutic antibodies (i.e., antibody-based immunotherapy) and cytokine-encoding nucleic acids (i.e., cytokine gene therapy) can be successfully delivered into diseased tissues, thus improving immune responses. In addition, protein antigens, as well as antigen-encoding nucleic acids (pDNA, mRNA), can be delivered into dendritic cells (i.e., dendritic cell-based vaccines), thus leading to a long-lasting prophylactic or therapeutic immunization. This chapter focuses on the state-of-the-art of bubble-assisted ultrasound in the field of immunotherapy and vaccination.