Chemotherapy drugs are wrapped in "nano-bubbles" called liposomes, which are then injected into the desired part of the body and made to release their payload on demand, by applying X-ray radiation.

By shrinking the bubbles and directly loading them with anti-cancer drugs, the bubbles can lower the dose of free drug that is injected and diffuses into nontumor tissue in the body. This results in ...

Researchers are in the early stages of creating a new method that uses bubbles within bubbles to deliver chemotherapy drugs, and could someday reduce the treatment's significant side effects.

"These tiny bubbles filled with Targretin in 'prodrug' form can be 'popped' to release the drug inside liver cancer cells, activating the prodrug during cellular internalization process.