The promising alliance of anti-cancer electrochemotherapy with immunotherapy

• Published in: Cancer and metastasis reviews Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 165 - 177
• Main Authors: Calvet, Christophe Y., Mir, Lluis M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer; Cancer Research; Cancer Vaccines - administration & dosage; Care and treatment; Combined Modality Therapy; Cytokines - genetics; Cytokines - metabolism; Drug Delivery Systems; Electrochemotherapy - methods; Electroporation; Gene Transfer Techniques; Genetic Therapy - methods; Health aspects; Humans; Immunologic Factors - pharmacology; Immunologic Factors - therapeutic use; Immunotherapy; Immunotherapy - methods; Neoplasms - genetics; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - pathology; Neoplasms - therapy; Non-Thematic Review; Oncology; Translational Medical Research; Vaccines, DNA - administration & dosage; Metastasis; Electrogenetherapy; Electrochemotherapy; Immunity; Immunotherapy; Cancer
• ISSN: 0167-7659; 1573-7233
• DOI: 10.1007/s10555-016-9615-3

Anti-tumor electrochemotherapy, which consists in increasing anti-cancer drug uptake by means of electroporation, is now implanted in about 140 cancer treatment centers in Europe. Its use is supported by the English National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the palliative treatment of skin metastases, and about 13,000 cancer patients were treated by this technology by the end of 2015. Efforts are now focused on turning this local anti-tumor treatment into a systemic one. Electrogenetherapy, that is the electroporation-mediated transfer of therapeutic genes, is currently under clinical evaluation and has brought excitement to enlarge the anti-cancer armamentarium. Among the promising electrogenetherapy strategies, DNA vaccination and cytokine-based immunotherapy aim at stimulating anti-tumor immunity. We review here the interests and state of development of both electrochemotherapy and electrogenetherapy. We then emphasize the potent beneficial outcome of the combination of electrochemotherapy with immunotherapy, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors or strategies based on electrogenetherapy, to simultaneously achieve excellent local debulking anti-tumor responses and systemic anti-metastatic effects.