Locoregional targeted delivery for improved therapeutic outcomes
INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY INNOVATION AT STANFORD
However, in real life, therapies are usually administered to patients by an intravenous injection resulting in the whole body being exposed to a therapy with only a small amount reaching a target organ (left).
IRIS is leading the way to preclinically develop, and clinically translate, techniques and strategies for the precision delivery of patient-specific therapies to any location in the human body (right).
Although new therapies developed in the laboratory are showing promising and exciting results, their translation to patients has not lived up to expectations. This not surprising as in the laboratory therapies are directly tested with target cells.
Interventional Radiologists are uniquely positioned to pioneer this initiative given they are delivery specialist physicians who can access any part of the human body, using non-surgical minimally invasive techniques, guided by advanced imaging.
Our lab develops new pre-clinical translational models for locoregional precision delivery of therapeutics into different organ systems with the vision that these can be effectively clinically translated into patients. Given the foundation of Interventional Oncology (IO), where we treat solid tumors through the local delivery of drug, cellular and thermal/ablative therapies, our team is pioneering the new scientific field of Interventional Regenerative Medicine (IRM), where we envisage the ability to restore cellular health and function of injured tissues through the local delivery of stem cell therapies.
PRECISION DELIVERY
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) encompasses two distinct diseases: Crohn’s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Mucosal healing is the preferred treatment target, as patients who achieve mucosal healing have improved outcomes, including decreased risk of surgery, and lower relapse rates. However, almost all therapies are given either orally or intravenously resulting in non-target systemic distribution with only minimal therapy reaching the bowel. Our research focuses on delivering MSC therapies directly into the arterial circulation of the bowel to ensure their maximal therapeutic efficiency at inflamed segments to thereby improve their therapeutic effects.
Precision Equipment are essential to accomplish precision delivery in patients. We work closely with main stream imaging vendors to optimize equipment that help us “see-inside” and intervene upon the human body; start-ups and device manufacturers to develop new catheters and devices for drug and cell delivery; and even developing new devices in our own lab for children given their unique smaller body size and continual growth trajectory; indeed, we envisage one day of being able to develop “custom devices”, specific for individual patients, using advances in technologies like 3D printing..