Using red blood cells as couriers

A method of using the body's red blood cells as biomedical 'drug couriers' to fight diseases such as cancer has been discovered by Ulster University's Professor, Tony McHale. Working with colleagues the professor has developed a method of loading red blood cells with drugs that can be released by a beam of ultrasound when they hit the target of diseased tissue.

As well as targeting diseases precisely, the new technology would minimise debilitating side effects to the patient, making it invaluable in the fight against cancer where highly toxic medications are used. Red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body, have been tried as a drug-delivery mechanism before but without much success. The problems have arisen from the difficulty of delivering the payload of drugs to exactly the right place in the body. Professor McHale discovered that the red cells can be sensitised so that they burst open when exposed to ultrasound. An ultrasonic beam is focused on the tissue where the drug is needed, the red cells loaded with the drugs and injected into the bloodstream.

When the cells reach the tissue under the beam they burst, releasing their payload into the diseased cells and leaving the surrounding healthy tissue unaffected. So far, the experiments have been successful in laboratory tests; and trials on patients are being organised and are expected to take two years.