Current Progress in Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound to Facilitate Drug Delivery across the Blood-Brain Barrier

Ying Meng; Lorraine V Kalia; Suneil K Kalia; Clement Hamani; Yuexi Huang; Kullervo Hynynen; Nir Lipsman; Benjamin Davidson

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics16060719

Current Progress in Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound to Facilitate Drug Delivery across the Blood-Brain Barrier

Pharmaceutics. 2024 May 27;16(6):719. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16060719.

Authors

Ying Meng^{1

2

3}, Lorraine V Kalia^{4

5}, Suneil K Kalia^{1

4

6

7}, Clement Hamani^{1

2

3}, Yuexi Huang³, Kullervo Hynynen³, Nir Lipsman^{1

2

3}, Benjamin Davidson^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
² Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
³ Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
⁴ Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5T 0S8, Canada.
⁵ Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada.
⁶ Center for Advancing Neurotechnological Innovation to Application (CRANIA), University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5T 1M8, Canada.
⁷ KITE Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2A2, Canada.

Abstract

This review discusses the current progress in the clinical use of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) and other ultrasound platforms to transiently permeabilize the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for drug delivery in neurological disorders and neuro-oncology. Safety trials in humans have followed on from extensive pre-clinical studies, demonstrating a reassuring safety profile and paving the way for numerous translational clinical trials in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and primary and metastatic brain tumors. Future directions include improving ultrasound delivery devices, exploring alternative delivery approaches such as nanodroplets, and expanding the application to other neurological conditions.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; MRgFUS; Parkinson’s disease; aducanumab; blood brain barrier; focused ultrasound; glioma.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.