68419Intratumoral injection of nanoparticles for cancer treatment - translation to clinical practiceClosedStudyInnovate UKAlthough great progress has been made in the treatment of some common cancers there remain many indications where there has been little improvement in care over decades. The most difficult tumours tend to be inoperable with treatment options limited to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Chemotherapy is administered systemically and a balance between toxicity and tumour dose is hard to achieve. Radiotherapy is more effective as it can be targeted to the tumour. However, it relies on the presence of oxygen to generate cell killing free radicals, meaning that aggressive oxygen deficient (hypoxic) tumours cannot be treated without unacceptable off-target toxicity. Recently, nanoparticles have begun use as radiosensitisers to enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy treatment. Direct intratumoural injection is currently under active investigation as a method of reducing systemic toxicity but presents a threefold challenge for clinicians. Firstly, direct real-time imaging of the needle tip into the tumour is difficult, particularly for deep tumours in, for example, the pancreas. Secondly, it is not known how far from the needle tip the active ingredient disperses into the tumour. Thirdly, conventional injection provides little control of the distribution of the nanoparticles within the tumour. Consequently, it is very difficult for the clinician to devise an effective clinical intervention strategy for intratumoural injection. This project brings together collaborators with broad and deep skills in the area of nanoparticle development, fluid delivery and medical imaging. This programme will develop the basis of a clinical intervention strategy for cancer treatment of human patients using intratumoural injection.