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Updated: Mar 20, 2026

Contrast Ultrasound Targeted Treatment of Gliomas in Mice via Drug-Bearing Nanoparticle Delivery and Microvascular Ablation
Published on: December 15, 2010
Development of a novel microbubble-liposome complex conjugated with peptide ligands targeting IL4R on brain tumor
See-Hyoung Park1, Young Ii Yoon1, Hyoungwon Moon2
1Program in Nano Science and Technology, Department of Transdisciplinary Studies, Seoul National University, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
Gas (SF6)-filled microbubbles (MBs) were prepared by emulsion and solvent-evaporation method. The prepared MBs were further conjugated with doxorubicin (Dox)-loaded nano-sized liposome and peptide ligands to interleukin-4 receptor (IL4R) for targeting brain tumor cells. The final MB-liposome (Dox)-IL4R targeting peptide ligand [MB-Lipo (Dox)-IL4RTP] had a spherical structure with the mean size of 1,500 nm. The MB-Lipo (Dox)‑IL4RTP exhibited cellular uptake in U87MG brain tumor cells (a brain tumor cell line expressing strongly IL4R) with frequency ultrasound energy suggesting that MB-Lipo (Dox)‑IL4RTP provided effective targeting ability for brain tumor cells. In addition, WST-1 assay results showed that MB-Lipo (Dox)‑IL4RTP inhibited the proliferation of U87MG cells IL4R‑dependently. This was confirmed by western blotting of γH2AX, phospho (Ser15)-p53, p53 and p21 which are signal transduction proteins involved in DNA damage response and cell cycle arrest. Taken together, these results indicate that MB-Lipo (Dox)-IL4RTP represents a promising ultrasonic contrast agent for tumor-targeting ultrasonic imaging.

