A new brain tumour therapy combining bleomycin with in vivo electropermeabilization

The potentials of in vivo electropermeabilization in combination with bleomycin in brain tumor treatment have been explored. In the brain of normal Fischer 344 rats, 2 electrodes were placed 5 mm apart. Electropermeabilization was performed with 8 to 12 exponential 400 V pulses with a time constant of 325 microseconds. Some animals were given bleomycin i.v., 1mg/kg b.w., 4 minutes before electric pulses delivery. No adverse effects were recorded during the observation of the animals during the following month. The effect of bleomycin and electropermeabilization upon tumour growth was studied in rats with glioma cells (RG2) implanted in the head of the right caudate nucleus. Treatment was given at different time intervals after the implantation of tumor cells and the effect upon survival was studied. Bleomycin alone did not prolong the survival of the animals. On the contrary, bleomycin plus electropermeabilization on the 10th, 11th or 12th day after inoculation increased the survival time to almost double that of untreated animals. We conclude that this treatment may be of value in brain tumour therapy.