The Synergistic Role of Irreversible Electroporation and Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Argyrios Gyftopoulos; Ioannis A Ziogas; Andrew S Barbas; Dimitrios Moris

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.843769

The Synergistic Role of Irreversible Electroporation and Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Front Oncol. 2022 May 25:12:843769. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.843769. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Argyrios Gyftopoulos¹, Ioannis A Ziogas², Andrew S Barbas³, Dimitrios Moris³

Affiliations

¹ Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
² Department of Surgery, Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States.
³ Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States.

Abstract

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a local ablative technique used in conjunction with chemotherapy to treat locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). The combination of IRE and chemotherapy has showed increased overall survival when compared to chemotherapy alone, pointing towards a possible facilitating effect of IRE on chemotherapeutic drug action and delivery. This review aims to present current chemotherapeutic regimens for LAPC and their co-implementation with IRE, with an emphasis on possible molecular augmentative mechanisms of drug delivery and action. Moreover, the potentiating mechanism of IRE on immunotherapy, M1 oncolytic virus and dendritic cell (DC)-based treatments is briefly explored. Investigating the synergistic effect of IRE on currently established treatment regimens as well as newer ones, may present exciting new possibilities for future studies seeking to improve current LAPC treatment algorithms.

Keywords: chemotherapy; electrochemotherapy; electrogene; immunotherapy; irreversible electroporation; locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Publication types

Review