ABSTRACT
It has been shown that the toxicity of bleomycin is increased a minimum of 300-fold when electroporation is performed (Gehl et al. 1998; Jaroszeski et al. 2000; Orlowski et al. 1988). One of the elements necessary for the activation of the immune system is a “danger signal” (Fuchs and Matzinger 1996). As ECT leads to the immediate cell death of tumor cells in the treated area, ECT could be regarded as a way to obtain such a danger signal. Other studies have used tumor tissue obtained by excision, exposed to toxic or lytic agents ex vivo, wherea´er reintroduction into the patient has been performed. An example is described in Jocham et al. (2004), where a homogenate of tumor cells has been reintroduced into the patient a´er treatment of tumor cells ex vivo. In the case of ECT, cells are lysed in situ and exposed to immunogenic cells in their natural environment, with a danger signal to enhance interaction between the immune system and the treated tumor volume.
