Dev S B, Hofmann G A
BTX, Inc., San Diego, CA 92121-1334.
Cancer Treat Rev. 1994 Jan;20(1):105-15. doi: 10.1016/0305-7372(94)90013-2.
A critical review is presented on a novel method of treating cancer by a combination of an electric field with chemotherapeutic agents. The work described here summarizes the current state of the technique known as electrical impulse chemotherapy (EIC) or electrochemotherapy (ECT). The review discusses in vitro results with specific cell lines, in vivo work on animals and clinical results on patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. In all cases, it has been found that uptake of various drugs by the tumor cells can be increased markedly by EIC/ECT. Partial responses and complete cures have been observed without any damaging side-effects, provided the field strength is kept sufficiently low. ECT followed by injection of a low dose of interleukin-2 (IL-2) or IL-2 secreting cells has shown better results than ECT alone. There appears to be a systemic effect and a strong indication that an immune response may be elicited by this method of treatment. Finally, we discuss the challenges involved in hardware requirements for EIC/ECT and its future prospects for both drug delivery and gene therapy.
本文对一种通过电场与化疗药物联合治疗癌症的新方法进行了批判性综述。此处描述的工作总结了被称为电脉冲化疗（EIC）或电化学疗法（ECT）的技术的当前状态。该综述讨论了特定细胞系的体外实验结果、动物体内实验工作以及头颈部鳞状细胞癌患者的临床结果。在所有情况下，都发现通过EIC/ECT可显著提高肿瘤细胞对各种药物的摄取。只要场强保持足够低，就可观察到部分缓解和完全治愈，且无任何有害副作用。ECT后注射低剂量白细胞介素-2（IL-2）或分泌IL-2的细胞已显示出比单独使用ECT更好的效果。似乎存在全身效应，并且有强有力的迹象表明这种治疗方法可能引发免疫反应。最后，我们讨论了EIC/ECT硬件要求所涉及的挑战及其在药物递送和基因治疗方面的未来前景。
