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