Electrochemotherapy—a novel method of cancer treatment

• Published in: Cancer treatment reviews Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 105 - 115
• Main Authors: Dev, S.B., Hofmann, G.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1994; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bleomycin - therapeutic use; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - therapy; Cell Membrane Permeability; Combined Modality Therapy; Combined treatments (chemotherapy of immunotherapy associated with an other treatment); Electric Stimulation Therapy - methods; Electroporation; Head and Neck Neoplasms - therapy; Humans; Interleukin-2 - therapeutic use; Medical sciences; Mice; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - metabolism; Neoplasms - therapy; Neoplasms, Experimental - therapy; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Rats; Antineoplastic agent; Human; Solid tumor; Squamous cell carcinoma; Electroporation; Permeabilizing; Malignant tumor; Chemotherapy; Electric field; Electrotherapy; Head and neck; ENT disease; Combined treatment
• ISSN: 0305-7372; 1532-1967
• DOI: 10.1016/0305-7372(94)90013-2

A critical review is presented on a novel method of treating cancer by a combination of an electric field with chemotherapeutic agents. The work described here summarizes the current state of the technique known as electrical impulse chemotherapy (EIC) or electrochemotherapy (ECT). The review discusses in vitro results with specific cell lines, in vivo work on animals and clinical results on patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. In all cases, it has been found that uptake of various drugs by the tumor cells can be increased markedly by EIC/ECT. Partial responses and complete cures have been observed without any damaging side-effects, provided the field strength is kept sufficiently low. ECT followed by injection of a low dose of interleukin-2 (IL-2) or IL-2 secreting cells has shown better results than ECT alone. There appears to be a systemic effect and a strong indication that an immune response may be elicited by this method of treatment. Finally, we discuss the challenges involved in hardware requirements for EIC/ECT and its future prospects for both drug delivery and gene therapy.