Combination of irreversible electroporation with sustained release of a synthetic membranolytic polymer for enhanced cancer cell killing

Samuel M. Hanson, Bruce Forsyth, Chun Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is used clinically as a focal therapy to ablate solid tumors. A critical disadvantage of IRE as a monotherapy for cancer is the inability of ablating large tumors, because the electric field strength required is often too high to be safe. Previous reports indicate that cells exposed to certain cationic small molecules and surfactants are more vulnerable to IRE at lower electric field strengths. However, low-molecular-weight IRE sensitizers may suffer from suboptimal bioavailability due to poor stability and a lack of control over spatiotemporal accumulation in the tumor tissue. Here, we show that a synthetic membranolytic polymer, poly(6-aminohexyl methacrylate) (PAHM), synergizes with IRE to achieve enhanced cancer cell killing. The enhanced efficacy of the combination therapy is attributed to PAHM-mediated sensitization of cancer cells to IRE and to the direct cell killing by PAHM through membrane lysis. We further demonstrate sustained release of PAHM from embolic beads over 1 week in physiological medium. Taken together, combining IRE and a synthetic macromolecular sensitizer with intrinsic membranolytic activity and sustained bioavailability may present new therapeutic opportunities for a wide range of solid tumors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number10810
JournalScientific reports
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was funded by Boston Scientific Corporation. We thank Dr. Paul Grosso, Dr. Heidi Schwanz, Evan Bennett, and Jasmin Flowers for helpful discussion, Dr. John Bischof for providing the AsPC-1 cells, Dr. Mahya Hemmat for assistance in using the IRE generator, and Dr. Brenda Ogle for providing a plate reader for the MTT assay.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

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