[The role of electroporation in increasing the effectiveness of anticancer drugs].
By applying electric pulses to tumor the membrane of tumor cells undergoes destabilization that enables the drug molecules to enter into the cells more freely and selectivity of anticancer drugs increases. Thus, administering smaller doses of anticancer drugs it might be possible to achieve a better therapeutic effect and to reduce side effects of cytostatic therapy. Such combination of chemotherapy with electric pulses is called electrochemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anticancer effectiveness of single and repeated courses of electrochemotherapy with three different anticancer agents (cyclophosphamide, carboplatinum and bleomycin) using experimental animals. It was established that electrochemotherapy used as a single treatment the best increases cytotoxicity of bleomycin. While applying the electrochemotherapy course for 5 days all investigated anticancer drugs showed higher cytotoxicity as compared to the effect of these cytostatics without electroporation. It is notable that in this case antitumor effect of bleomycin was the highest--99% of treated tumors showed a high response rate and no recurrence was observed for 30 days.
Institute of Oncology, Vilnius University, Santariskiu 1, 08660 Vilnius, Lithuania. labajura@takas.lt
Jūrate
J
Labanauskiene
Janina
J
Didziapetriene
Eduardas
E
Aleknavicius
D000818:Animals; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018827:Carcinoma, Lewis Lung / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018274:Electroporation; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating; D001761:Bleomycin; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D016190:Carboplatin