Cancer Immunotherapy Program

The Foundation has identified cancer immunotherapy as a key area where focused ultrasound could improve clinical outcomes for many patients.

Promising cancer immunotherapy drugs have been approved to treat more than 20 different cancers, with the potential to achieve remission and even cure certain patients. Most notably, checkpoint inhibitors target specific regulatory checkpoints and take the brakes off the immune response. Despite their demonstrated benefits of tumor regression and increased overall survival, these therapies are only effective in 20-40% of patients. For some patients, side effects of immunotherapy treatments can also limit their long-term effectiveness.

Focused ultrasound can initiate a powerful anti-tumor immune response that could potentially address the limitations of current immunotherapy treatments to:

Given its noninvasiveness, use of non-ionizing radiation, and ability for precise ablation throughout the body with no dose limitations, focused ultrasound could be an appealing option for combination with immunotherapeutics.

To understand the true potential for focused ultrasound immunomodulation in cancer therapy, the Foundation has developed a dedicated program to address the following key questions, as defined by our Cancer Immunotherapy Scientific Advisory Board and participants at our past cancer immunotherapy workshops:

  1. What are the comparative immune effects – i.e. signaling pathways/molecules – induced by different focused ultrasound modes? How do these compare to other therapies (i.e. radiation, cryoablation, RF ablation)?
  2. How do the immune effects of focused ultrasound vary by tumor type?
  3. What clinical disease targets are ideal for focused ultrasound plus immunotherapy combinations?
  4. How can we optimize focused ultrasound treatments for immunomodulation ((i.e. drugs combinations, partial vs. total tumor treatment, timing of treatments)?
  5. What metrics can be used to predict clinical success (T cell ratios, etc)? Can blood samples in the absence of biopsies reliably predict response?
  6. Which new therapeutics may synergize with focused ultrasound?

FUS-IO Landscape Analysis

In April 2023, the Foundation published a landscape analysis to evaluate the rapidly growing field of focused ultrasound immuno-oncology (FUS-IO). The team compiled a library of FUS-IO references and assessed where the field stands with respect to key questions listed above. See the Landscape Analysis

Research Funding Available for Cancer Immunotherapy Projects

The Foundation is always seeking to fund both clinical and preclinical projects in the FUS-IO space. In recent years we have expressed a particular interest in those projects addressing either the effects of focused ultrasound on the tumor vasculature (with or without antiangiogenic therapy) or the outcomes of partial versus total tumor ablation. Clinical phase 1 or window of opportunity trials combining focused ultrasound with an immunotherapeutic are also of interest.

For all studies, whether Foundation-funded or otherwise, we recommend the use of these immune analysis guidelines:

Suggested Reading

Clinical Trials

The following trials are partially or fully funded by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.

Study of Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound in Combination With Immunotherapy in Newly Diagnosed Unmethylated Glioblastoma (BATs FUS) (NCT07343986, University of Virginia Health System) 

FUSA With Intratumoral PolyICLC in Regionally Advanced Resectable Melanoma (Mel 70) (NCT06472661, University of Virginia Health System) 

Evaluation of Sonalleve MR-HIFU for Ablation of Locally Advanced Non-resectable and Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer in Patients with Non-progressive Disease under First-line Chemotherapy: Feasibility and Safety Clinical Study [HIFU-PANC] (DRKS00033237, Universitätsklinik Köln) 

Preclinical Laboratory Studies

The following studies are partially or fully funded by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.

A preclinical murine model investigation of the synergistic effect of histotripsy and immune check point inhibitor anti-PD1 for osteosarcoma (A. Hay, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)  

Using boiling histotripsy with checkpoint inhibition for T-cell dependent immunity for breast cancer and melanoma (R. Price, University of Virginia Health System)  

Improving of bioeffects during FUS-microbubble treatments (A. Klibanov, University of Virginia Health System)  

Leveraging focused ultrasound to enhance adoptive T cell therapy efficacy in high-fidelity peritoneal cancer models (N. Sheybani, University of Virginia Health System)  

Expanding and understanding the efficacy of combinatorial thermally ablative FUS, vascular normalization and immunotherapy (T. Bullock, University of Virginia)  

Focused Ultrasound–Induced Neutrophil Reprogramming to Overcome Immunotherapy Resistance (A. Tsung, University of Virginia)  

Investigating Focused Ultrasound Effect on Tumor-Associated Macrophages (A. Kim, University of Virginia Health System)  

Combining HIFU acoustic cavitation and CAR T cells for the treatment of pediatric neuroblastoma (G. ter Haar, Institute of Cancer Research)  

Targeted Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma: Transcranial Focused Ultrasound-Mediated Delivery of STING Agonists via Nanocarriers (K. Huntoon, University of Arizona)  

Deploying MRgFUS BBBO to promote dendritic cell activation in the GBM TME (T. Bullock, University of Virginia Health System)  

Histotripsy-Induced Local and Abscopal Responses in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Molecular Mechanisms and Synergistic Potential with Immunotherapy (T. Worlikar, University of Michigan)  

A Rational Comparison of Thunder, Fire, and Lightning for Igniting an Anticancer Immune Response in Solid Tumors (M. DeWitt, University of Virginia)  

Leveraging Focused Ultrasound (FUS) to improve immunotherapy responses in Pancreatic Cancer (K. Jones / M. Gray, University of Oxford)  

Defining the abscopal effect in pancreatic cancer following focal tumor ablation (I. Allen, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion)  

Maximizing systemic anti-tumor immune responses in pancreatic cancer using histotripsy in combination with immunotherapeutic approaches (I. Allen, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion)  

Multimodal analysis of immune response post-FUS in two tumor models (B. Fite, Z. Xu, T. Khokhlova; Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Washington) 

Media

Histotripsy and Immunotherapy: First Results of iFOCUS
UMC Utrecht – April 2026 

“These are early results from a small group of patients, but they strengthen our confidence that we are on the right track. For the first time, we can show that this combination treatment is safe and that in some patients, a treatment effect is visible.” – Karijn Suijkerbuijk, MD, PhD, Professor of Immunotherapy of Solid Tumors at UMC Utrecht 

Histotripsy Stimulates the Immune System to Attack Cancer Cells Outside the Liver
University of Michigan Health – June 2025 

“Our work to continue understanding the ways that histotripsy impacts the whole body can open doors for new and potentially more effective ways to treat cancer that have less patient side effects.” – Anutosh Ganguly, PhD, researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School 

How Ultrasound and Microbubbles Could Deliver Immunotherapy to the Brain
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Newsroom – May 2024 

“This delivery method could pave the way for immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat brain cancer in the future.” – Randy King, PhD, program director of NIBIB’s Division of Applied Science and Technology 

Ultrasound-Guided Microbubbles Boost Immunotherapy Efficacy 
MD Anderson News Release – May 2022 

“The beauty of our platform is that ultrasound machines are already clinically available in many outpatient settings and microbubbles are FDA-approved contrast agents for ultrasound imaging. Our MUSIC platform is exciting because it provides a new framework for developing image-guided immunotherapy by using acoustically responsive biomaterials to enable efficient, targeted and robust immune activation to produce potent antitumor effects while minimizing systemic toxicity.” – Dr. Wen Jiang, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 

Focused Sound Waves and Immunotherapy Combination Shows Promise in Pancreatic Cancers
The Institute of Cancer Research – February 2022 

“This is the first ever study to show the anti-cancer benefit of these two treatments, HIFU in combination with immunotherapy, in pancreatic cancer.” – Dr. Gail ter Haar, Professor of Therapeutic Ultrasound at The Institute of Cancer Research