Electric Pulses Destroy Cancer Cells

A minimally invasive method called irreversible electroporation (IRE) causes cancer cells to die.

A team of researchers at Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science (SBES, Blacksberg, USA) and The University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, CA, USA) applied electroporation--a phenomenon known for decades that increases the permeability of a cell from none to a reversible opening to an irreversible opening--to the targeting of cancer cells. The researchers then successfully ablated tissue using the IRE pulses in the livers of male rats. By adjusting the electrical current, the researchers were able to reliably kill the targeted cells without affecting surrounding tissue or nearby blood vessels. The process was detailed in a special issue of Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment published in August 2007.

IRE removes tumors by irreversibly opening tumor cells through a series of short intense electric pulses from small electrodes placed in or around the body, said researcher Rafael V. Davalos, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at SBES. This application creates permanent openings in the pores in the cells of the undesirable tissue. The openings eventually lead to the death of the cells without the use of potentially harmful chemotherapeutic drugs.

IRE shows remarkable promise as a minimally invasive, inexpensive surgical technique to treat cancer, continued Professor Davalos. It has the advantages that it is easy to apply, is not affected by local blood flow, and can be monitored and controlled using electrical impedance tomography.

IRE was invented by Davalos, who is the 2006 recipient of the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award for most promising engineer or scientist, and by Boris Rubinsky, Ph.D. a bioengineering professor at the University of California (Berkeley, USA).


Related Links:
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Science
The University of California Berkley