Targeted drug delivery systems for liver cancer: fluid mechanical insights to optimize treatment efficacy

Novel targeted drug delivery systems are increasingly being used for cancer treatment. To date, the majority of systemic drug treatments lacks a site-specific delivery of therapeutic molecules, which may affect healthy tissue. For example, systemic chemotherapy is a well-known cancer treatment, but induces toxic side effects (e.g. cardiotoxic effect, nausea, hair loss). Hence, targeted drug delivery is needed to bring therapeutic molecules to the desired tumor region, while at the same time sparing normal tissue. Different types of therapies are currently under investigation, such as ultrasound-triggered and transarterial drug delivery. Though these techniques are promising, the optimal treatment conditions (injection location, dosis, drug carrier size...) are still unknown. It is thus essential to gain more insight into the parameters influencing therapy outcome. Therefore, we aim to explore the added value of computer models to optimize the efficacy of targeted drug delivery in the case of unresectable liver cancer, the third leading cause
of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Practically, computational fluid dynamics simulations of the blood circulation and drug carrier mass transport in the liver will be used. For validation purposes, research will also be done in a patient-inspired in vitro model and a rat model of liver cancer. We expect that the envisaged project will reveal new possibilities to manipulate the drug distribution and maximally affect tumorous tissue.