eScience in Biomedical Ingineering Research: Cancer Modeling and Simulation

NAHUEL OLAIZ; ESTEBAN MOCSKOS; MARIANO PEREZ RODRIGUEZ; LUCAS COLOMBO; ALEJANDRO SOBA; GRACIELA GONZALEZ; LUIS NUÑEZ; MARCELO RISK; GUILLERMO MARSHALL

EEUU

Workshop; eScience in Biomedical Ingineering Research: Cancer Modeling and Simulation; 2007

Microsoft

In tumor drug delivery nothing can reach intracellular targets without passing through the vessel wall, the interstitial matrix and the cell membrane. Physicochemical and physiological barriers could hinder main transport mechanisms, thus leading to inefficient and heterogeneous therapeutic agent accumulation with some cells remaining untreated. It is well known that electric fields enhance drug transport mechanisms by means of migration, convection or electroporation. Electrochemotherapy (ECT), the  use of pulsed electric fields with chemotherapy, is routinely used for  for enhancing cell drug delivery. On the other hand, electrochemical treatment of tumors (EChT), the application of a direct electric current to a solid tumor inducing its necrosis, is widely used in China with good clinical results. While ECT permeabilizes the cell membrane allowing drug penetration, EChT induces strong  pH changes and anodic-cathodic water motion. Here we explore a combination of ECT and EChT with nanoparticles loaded with cytotoxic drugs with the goal of  enhancing drug transport and delivery to tumor tissues. Preliminary results of EChT at the tissue and celular level regarding migration, electroconvection and pH fronts are presented.