Speaker
Dr
Lluis M. Mir
(UMR 8203 Vectorology and Anticancer Therapies, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif, France)
Description
When electric pulses are applied to cells in vitro and even in vivo, the main
interaction occurs at the level of the cell membranes. Indeed, cell membranes are not conductive elements while both the external and the internal media, resulting in the
generation of transmembrane potential differences. Due to the thinness of the
membrane (5 nm), the resulting local electric field at the membrane can be extremely
high resulting in the destructuration of the membrane (electroporation). Then the
membranes remain permeable for several minutes, even after the delivery of an
ultra-short pulse of a few nanoseconds of high field magnitude.
This electropermeabilization allows molecules that usually cannot cross the plasma
membrane (nonpermeant molecules) to enter the cells. One of the in vitro popular
applications of the electroporation is the delivery of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA, short
or long), which can also be performed in vivo and which has already moved to clinical
trials. However, the most achieved application is the antitumoral
electrochemotherapy that was conceived and developed by our team. After
successful preclinical and clinical trials, electrochemotherapy is now routinely used to
treat cutaneous and subcutaneous tumors in about 90 cancer centers in the EU.
Clinical trials are dealing now with the treatment on deep seated tumors like bone
metastasis, unresectable liver metastasis, etc.
The fundamentals of the interactions of the electric pulses with the membranes were
actually unknown. Very recent results of our team will be presented and discussed as
they bring new insights that may explain the mechanisms of the membrane
electropermeabilisation. Interestingly, they raise the question of the limits between
the ionizing and the non-ionizing radiations.
Primary author
Dr
Lluis M. Mir
(UMR 8203 Vectorology and Anticancer Therapies, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif, France)
Co-authors
Dr
Aude Silve
(INRIA Bordeaux-Sud Ouest, Team research MC2, Institut Mathématiques de Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5251, 33405 Talence, France)
Dr
Clair Poignard
(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology (IHM), 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany)
Dr
Isabelle Leray
(UMR 8203 Vectorology and Anticancer Therapies, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif, France)
Dr
Marie Breton
(UMR 8203 Vectorology and Anticancer Therapies, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif, France)
Dr
Marie-Amélie De Ménorval
(UMR 8203 Vectorology and Anticancer Therapies, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif, France)
