A new study has found that an intense form of ultrasound that shakes a tumor until its cells start to leak can launch an attack on cancer.

The study led by researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering has suggested that a high intensity ultrasound can activate an "alarm" that enlists immune defenses against the cancerous invasion.

The new findings from animal experiments imply that once triggered by the ultrasound, the immune system might even search for and devastate cancer cells, including those that have spread through the bloodstream to lurk in other parts of the body.

This high-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU, is in use or testing in China, Europe and the United States to kill tumors by heating them. But Duke researchers now find that HIFU might work even better if it is first delivered in a manner that just shakes the cells. That shaking breaks tumor cell membranes, causing them to spill their contents. The toxic spill then alerts the immune system to the cancer threat, leading to the production of tumor-fighting white blood cells.

The researchers suggest that if the effect seen in mice holds true in human patients, such a treatment could be an important advance in many cancer therapies because of its potential to deal with both primary tumors and metastatic cancers that have spread to other organs, all without the need for surgery.