title: Electrochemotherapy in pancreatic adenocarcinoma treatment: pre-clinical and clinical studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is currently one of the deadliest cancers with high mortality rate. This disease leads to an aggressive local invasion and early metastases, and is poorly responsive to treatment with chemotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy. Radical resection is still the only curative treatment for pancreatic cancer, but it is generally accepted that a multimodality strategy is necessary for its management. Therefore, new alternative therapies have been considered for local treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chemotherapeutic resistance in pancreatic cancer is associated to a low penetration of drugs into tumour cells due to the presence of fibrotic stroma surrounding cells. In order to increase the uptake of chemotherapeutic drugs into tumour cells, electrochemotherapy can be used for treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma leading to an increased tumour response rate. This review will summarize the published papers reported in literature on the efficacy and safety of electrochemotherapy in pre-clinical and clinical studies on pancreatic cancer.
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bimonte
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leongito
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenza
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Granata
authors.affiliation: S.S.D Sperimentazione Animale, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.affiliation: S.S.D Sperimentazione Animale, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Vitale
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Del Vecchio
authors.affiliation: S.S.D Sperimentazione Animale, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falco
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Aurelio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nasto
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Albino
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piccirillo
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Palaia
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amore
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Raimondo di
authors.initials: Rd
authors.lastname: Giacomo
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fondazione G.Pascale" IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Secondo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lastoria
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio Venanzio
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Setola
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fusco
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrillo
authors.affiliation: Division of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Hepatobiliary Unit, Istituto Nazionale per lo studio e la cura dei Tumori "Fondazione G. Pascale", IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Izzo
keywords: bleomycin; clinical study; efficacy; electrochemotherapy; pancreatic carcinoma; pre-clinical study; safety