Ultrasound assistant chemotherapy may be a novel modality for solid tumors

Resistance to chemotherapy is the important reason for treatment failure in patients with cancer. Current methods which focus on the identification of more selective and potent drug resistance reversing agents are not satisfying. It is an urgent need for development of new approaches to overcoming drug resistance. The use of low power ultrasound in cancer therapy is a developing field. Recently, it was found that some anticancer drugs, upon ultrasonic irradiation, could create active oxygen species and effectively destruct cancer cells. This means that, in addition to cytotoxicity, these chemotherapeutic agents may be used as sonosensitizers and kill cancer cells by another mechanism. Moreover, local hyperthermia induced by ultrasound could enhance drug cytotoxicity. For the unique advantage of ultrasound, which are quite different from current therapy, we hypothesize that ultrasound assistant chemotherapy may be a new strategy to block drug resistance, which might enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs, and reduce undesired side effects.