X-Message-Number: 30727
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Electrochemotherapy - membrane electroporation in antitumor t...
Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 11:48:03 +0200

Electrochemotherapy - membrane electroporation in antitumor treatment
Time: 2008-05-07 kl. 13.15

Place: Kc/, Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17

Organizer: Thomas Hamburger



Electrochemotherapy
The application of short and intense electric pulses to cells induces  
transient and reversible changes in the plasma membrane, so that it  
becomes permeable to a number of various ionic molecules. At the  
molecular level, the phenomenon is still a subject of research,  
however at cellular level, with optimized electric pulse parameters it  
can be reasonably well controlled so field-induced changes in the  
membrane are reversible and cell viability is maintained.



During the past two decades, this form of electropermeabilization,  
also called electroporation, has been used successfully as a method of  
targeting molecules to tissues, including drugs, genes or antibodies.  
The use of electric pulses to improve the delivery of chemotherapeutic  
agents, termed electrochemotherapy (ECT), is gaining increasing  
attention in cancer therapy as it offers better approach for drug  
delivery directly into the tumor cells and thus better antitumour  
effectiveness.



Recent studies in vivo have performed with a variety of tumor types,  
including melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, lung carcinoma, breast  
carcinoma, fibrosarcoma, glioma and cutaneous malignancies have shown  
a great potential of electrochemotherapy as an effective cancer  
treatment with minimal drug doses and no side effects on healthy cells.



ECT in combination with conventional radiotherapy has turned out to be  
even more effective.



The seminar will cover physical principles of electroporation and  
review its applications in medicine and biology with the emphasis on  
ECT vs. other cancer treatments used in oncology.



David Stodolsky    Skype: davidstodolsky

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30727