TY - JOUR
T1 - Ultrasound and microbubbles for the treatment of ocular diseases
T2 - From preclinical research towards clinical application
AU - Rousou, Charis
AU - Schuurmans, Carl C.L.
AU - Urtti, Arto
AU - Mastrobattista, Enrico
AU - Storm, Gert
AU - Moonen, Chrit
AU - Kaarniranta, Kai
AU - Deckers, Roel
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sk?odowska-Curie grant agreement No. 722717. The authors thank Megan Breuer for critical proofreading of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The unique anatomy of the eye and the presence of various biological barriers make efficacious ocular drug delivery challenging, particularly in the treatment of posterior eye diseases. This review focuses on the combination of ultrasound and microbubbles (USMB) as a minimally invasive method to improve the efficacy and targeting of ocular drug delivery. An extensive overview is given of the in vitro and in vivo studies investigating the mechanical effects of ultrasound-driven microbubbles aiming to: (i) temporarily disrupt the blood–retina barrier in order to enhance the delivery of systemically administered drugs into the eye, (ii) induce intracellular uptake of anticancer drugs and macromolecules and (iii) achieve targeted delivery of genes, for the treatment of ocular malignancies and degenerative diseases. Finally, the safety and tolerability aspects of USMB, essential for the translation of USMB to the clinic, are discussed.
AB - The unique anatomy of the eye and the presence of various biological barriers make efficacious ocular drug delivery challenging, particularly in the treatment of posterior eye diseases. This review focuses on the combination of ultrasound and microbubbles (USMB) as a minimally invasive method to improve the efficacy and targeting of ocular drug delivery. An extensive overview is given of the in vitro and in vivo studies investigating the mechanical effects of ultrasound-driven microbubbles aiming to: (i) temporarily disrupt the blood–retina barrier in order to enhance the delivery of systemically administered drugs into the eye, (ii) induce intracellular uptake of anticancer drugs and macromolecules and (iii) achieve targeted delivery of genes, for the treatment of ocular malignancies and degenerative diseases. Finally, the safety and tolerability aspects of USMB, essential for the translation of USMB to the clinic, are discussed.
KW - Blood–retina barrier
KW - Cellular drug delivery
KW - Drug delivery
KW - Microbubble
KW - Ocular drug delivery
KW - Ultrasound
KW - USMB
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117923858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pharmaceutics13111782
DO - 10.3390/pharmaceutics13111782
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85117923858
SN - 1999-4923
VL - 13
JO - Pharmaceutics
JF - Pharmaceutics
IS - 11
M1 - 1782
ER -
