Abstract
IntroductionDiffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a high fatality pediatric brain cancer without effective treatment. The field of electrotherapeutics offers new potential for other forms of glioma but the efficacy of this strategy has not been reported for DIPG. This pilot study evaluated the susceptibility of patient-derived DIPG cells to low intensity electric fields delivered using a developing technology called intratumoral modulation therapy (IMT).MethodsDIPG cells from autopsy specimens were treated with a custom-designed, in vitro IMT system. Computer-generated electric field simulation was performed to quantify IMT amplitude and distribution using continuous, low intensity, intermediate frequency stimulation parameters. Treatment groups included sham, IMT, temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy and radiation therapy (RT). The impact of single and multi-modality therapy was compared using spectrophotometric and flow cytometry viability analyses.ResultsDIPG cells exhibited robust, consistent susceptibility to IMT fields that significantly reduced cell viability compared to untreated control levels. The ratio of viable:non-viable DIPG cells transformed from ~ 6:1 in sham-treated to ~ 1.5:1 in IMT-treated conditions. The impact of IMT was similar to that of dual modality TMZ–RT therapy and the addition of IMT to this treatment combination dramatically reduced DIPG cell viability to ~ 20% of control values.ConclusionsThis proof-of-concept study provides a novel demonstration of marked DIPG cell susceptibility to low intensity electric fields delivered using IMT. The potent impact as a monotherapy and when integrated into multi-modality treatment platforms justifies further investigations into the potential of IMT as a critically needed biomedical innovation for DIPG.
Highlights
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a high fatality pediatric brain cancer without effective treatment
The cells were derived from early postmortem DIPG specimens in three pediatric patients, aged 2, 2 and 6 years old respectively, who had received radiation and chemotherapy during their care
Brightfield images of cells stained with MTT were obtained using a Motic AE31 inverted microscope fitted with an Infinity 1–3 scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor camera (Lumenera Corp, Nepean, ON, Canada)
Summary
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a high fatality pediatric brain cancer without effective treatment. The field of electrotherapeutics offers new potential for other forms of glioma but the efficacy of this strategy has not been reported for DIPG. This pilot study evaluated the susceptibility of patient-derived DIPG cells to low intensity electric fields delivered using a developing technology called intratumoral modulation therapy (IMT). The impact of IMT was similar to that of dual modality TMZ–RT therapy and the addition of IMT to this treatment combination dramatically reduced DIPG cell viability to ~ 20% of control values. Conclusions This proof-of-concept study provides a novel demonstration of marked DIPG cell susceptibility to low intensity electric fields delivered using IMT. Despite international efforts in defining the molecular underpinnings of DIPG, there have been no recent therapeutic advances that substantially improve patient outcomes [2, 4]
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