Inhibition of melanoma growth in a subcutaneous model using ultrasound with low duty cycle

Melanoma has a 5-year survival rate of <10%, primarily due to therapeutic resistance and immune tolerance. Durable responses to therapy of metastatic melanoma are enhanced when the anti tumor immune response is activated. FUS is an emerging non-invasive treatment modality for localized treatment of cancers. Traditionally FUS has been used exclusively for thermal ablation of the target sites; biological responses associated with both thermal and mechanical damage have not been investigated. Damaged tumor cells have release endogenous danger signals, which stimulate an immune response, suggesting that the patient’s dying cancer cells may serve as a therapeutic vaccine which stimulates an antitumor immune response. Specifically, we hypothesize that FUS will augment tumor antigen release and danger signals to mediate rejection of both FUS treated and untreated tumors.