Development of a Nontoxic Multimodality Contrast Agent

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. There are now many alternativetreatments which have been developed and show promise. Successful treatment generally depends uponearly diagnosis. Although tumors differ from normal tissue pathologically, there are no significantdifferences in gross physical properties up to the point when it becomes palpable. Therefore, the threemajor medical modalities have not demonstrated anticipated success in identifying small tumors.Procedural costs are continually increasing. This proposal concerns the development of a low-cost agentdelivered via venous injection which adheres to tumor vessel walls in large numbers and can act as acontrast agent for all three major modalities, Ultrasound, X-ray and MR Imaging. Our production methodand material costs will provide low cost diagnostic agents. We will extend the existing gelatinmicrobubble technology to small air-filled gelatin microparticles containing therein an X-ray and an MRImaging agent. This activity consists of creating 8 micron particles and establishing concentration levels.Phase II studies would be oriented toward reducing particle size to less than 3 microns anddemonstrating its efficacy in animal models and limited clinical cases.