München 2019 – scientific programme

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SYPP: Symposium Pulsed Power für Medizin und Biotechnologie

SYPP 2: Pulsed Power für Medizin und Biotechnologie II

SYPP 2.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 21, 2019, 14:00–14:30, HS 3

Pulsed Electric Fields for the Manipulation of Cancer Cells — Anna Steuer, Fukun Shi, Christina M. Wolff, and •Juergen F. Kolb — Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, Greifswald

Pulsed electric fields with durations of nanoseconds and strengths on the order of tens of kilovolts per centimetre have been developed as an alternative method to induce cell death in cancer cells by apoptosis. Following many successful experiments with animals, currently also clinical studies are devised. Basic research on the underlying mechanisms has mostly focused on the study of individual cells in suspension. However, for cells that are organized in a tissue, connections and communication between cells are crucial. Accordingly, we investigated besides intracellular effects also extracellular effects and in particular the response on tight junctions and cell-cell communication and how both affect the development of cells in a tissue, such as their potential to metastasize. Distinct effects could be found that are primarily caused by a transient disassembly of respective membrane proteins that are only compensated by repair mechanisms over the course of one hour. Conversely, these changes have an immediate effect on intracellular biomolecular pathways, elastic properties of cells and on the permeability of tissues. Some of these effects can be enhanced by combining the treatment with pulsed electric fields and exposures to non-thermal plasmas. Overall this allows for new possibilities for tumour treatment and potentially also tissue regeneration.