ELECTROCHEMOTHERAPY - AN EMERGING DRUG-DELIVERY METHOD FOR THE TREATMENT OF CANCER

The combined treatment consisting of a chemotherapeutic agent and puls ed electric fields has been termed electrochemotherapy. This relativel y new treatment modality relies on the physical effects of locally app lied electric fields to destabilize cell membranes in the presence of a drug. Membrane destabilization, electroporation, allows increased mo vement of molecules into the cytosol. Thus, the pulses are used to loc ally deliver drugs to the interior of cells. This type of treatment ha s principally been used to deliver bleomycin to tumor cells in vitro a nd in vivo. Marked antitumor effects have been reported in preclinical studies. In addition, electrochemotherapy clinical trials have been c onducted for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, m elanoma, and basal cell carcinoma. Objective response rates ranging fr om 72 to 100% have been reported from these trials. A review of the pr eclinical and clinical data for this novel drug delivery method is pre sented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.