Electroporation therapy: A new approach for the treatment of head and neckcancer

Electroporation can deliver exogenous molecules like drugs and genes Into c ells by pulsed electric fields through a. temporary increase in cell membra ne permeability, This effect is being used for the treatment of cancer by i ntratumoral injection of low dosage of an otherwise marginally effective ch emotherapeutic drug, bleomycin, Application of a pulsed electric field resu lts in substantially higher uptake of the drug and enhanced killing of the cancer cells than is possible by conventional methods, The MedPulser(R), a new treatment system for local electroporation therapy (EPT) of head and ne ck tumors was developed and is described in this paper. EPT with bleomycin. has been found to be very effective in killing cancer cells in vitro, in m ouse tumor xenografts in vivo, and in tumors in humans. Ten head and neck c ancer patients with recurring or unresponsive tumors were enrolled in a Pha se I/II clinical trial. Treatment of the entire tumor mass in each of eight patients resulted in five complete responses confirmed by biopsy and MRI, and three partial responses (greater than or equal to 50% shrinkage). Two a dditional patients who received partial treatment of their tumor mass had l ocal response where treated, but no overall lesion remission, Duration of t he complete responses ranges from 2-10 months to date. All patients tolerat ed the treatment well with no significant local or systemic adverse effects .