Nishi T, Dev S B, Yoshizato K, Kuratsu J, Ushio Y
Dept. of Neurosurgery, Kumamoto University School of Medicine.
Hum Cell. 1997 Mar;10(1):81-6.
Electroporation is a standard laboratory technique originally developed for in vitro transfer of molecules into cells. It involves application of electrical pulses ranging from micro- to milliseconds that create transient pores in the cell membrane allowing intracellular access of exogenous molecules. This technique has been successfully applied to regress tumors in animal models by combining electroporation with chemotherapeutic agents--a process known as electrochemotherapy (ECT) which substantially enhance cytotoxicity of some antineoplastic agents. Recently ECT has moved into clinical arena and patients with cutaneous tumors and head and neck cancers have been treated very effectively with ECT. Parallel to ECT, a technique has also been developed which makes it possible to inject plasmid DNA and combine it with in vivo electroporation--electro--genetherapy (EGT)--to deliver in a highly efficient manner both marker and functional genes into target tissue and achieve gene expression. Thus, in vivo electroporation is contributing to the development of a new strategy for cancer treatment with both drugs and genes.
电穿孔是一种标准的实验室技术，最初是为将分子体外转移到细胞中而开发的。它涉及施加从微秒到毫秒的电脉冲，这些电脉冲会在细胞膜上形成瞬时孔隙，使外源分子能够进入细胞内。通过将电穿孔与化疗药物相结合，该技术已成功应用于动物模型中的肿瘤消退——这一过程称为电化学疗法（ECT），它可显著增强某些抗肿瘤药物的细胞毒性。最近，ECT已进入临床领域，皮肤肿瘤和头颈癌患者已通过ECT得到了非常有效的治疗。与ECT并行，还开发了一种技术，该技术可以注射质粒DNA并将其与体内电穿孔相结合——电基因疗法（EGT）——以高效方式将标记基因和功能基因传递到靶组织并实现基因表达。因此，体内电穿孔正在为药物和基因联合治疗癌症的新策略的发展做出贡献。
