Electrochemotherapy with CDDP on LPB sarcoma: comparison of the anti-tumor effectiveness in immunocompotent and immunodeficient mice

Abstract

Electrochemotherapy combines chemotherapy with electric pulses in order to potentiate anti-tumor effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs. Electrochemotherapy with drugs that normally do not accumulate in the tumor cells in sufficient quantities, such as bleomycin and, to some extent, cis-platin, has already been well elaborated. For complete tumor eradication, the immune system of the organism is essential. In this study, LPB sarcoma was treated in immunocompetent C57B1/6 and immunodeficient nude mice, with the aim to determine the differences in anti-tumor effectiveness of electrochemotherapy with cis-platin. Differences observed in anti-tumor effectiveness were evaluated by tumor growth delay and the percentage of tumor cures obtained. The tumor growth delay in immunocompetent mice was approximately twice longer than in immunodeficient mice. Furthermore, a high percentage of tumor cures was achieved in immunocompetent mice, but none in immunodeficient mice. The results of our study clearly demonstrate that the host immune system is essential for obtaining cures after electrochemotherapy with cis-platin.