Molecular harvesting with electroporation for tissue profiling

Recent developments in personalized medicine are based on molecular measurement steps that guide personally adjusted medical decisions. A central approach to molecular profiling consists of measuring DNA, RNA, and/or proteins in tissue samples, most notably in and around tumors. This measurement yields molecular biomarkers that are potentially predictive of response and of tumor type. Current methods in cancer therapy mostly use tissue biopsy as the starting point of molecular profiling. Tissue biopsies involve a physical resection of a small tissue sample, leading to localized tissue injury, bleeding, inflammation and stress, as well as to an increased risk of metastasis. Here we developed a technology for harvesting biomolecules from tissues using electroporation. We show that tissue electroporation, achieved using a combination of high-voltage short pulses, 50 pulses 500 V cm^-1, 30 µs, 1 Hz, with low-voltage long pulses 50 pulses 50 V cm^-1, 10 ms, delivered at 1 Hz, allows for tissue-specific extraction of RNA and proteins. We specifically tested RNA and protein extraction from excised kidney and liver samples and from excised HepG2 tumors in mice. Further in vivo development of extraction methods based on electroporation can drive novel approaches to the molecular profiling of tumors and of tumor environment and to related diagnosis practices.