Electricity Delivers Gene To Fight Melanoma

Promising new gene therapy against skin cancer, in which researchers use electricity to open skin pores and deliver an immune-bosting gene, is now being readied for clinical trials. "This is a milestone clinical trial because it is the first time that electroporation is being used to deliver plasmid DNA in a gene therapy study in humans," Richard Heller, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of South Florida, said in a prepared statement. Heller helped develop the technology that's being used in the Phase I clinical trial, which will enroll 18 to 25 patients with advanced melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer that's often resistant to treatment. The trial will test the safety of electroporation, which involves the use of a hand-held device applied to the skin that delivers pulses of electricity. According to the experts, this stimulation opens up pores in the tumor cell membrane, allowing small molecules called DNA plasmids to get inside the tumor before the tumor membrane pores close again. These plasmids contain the gene for interluekin-12, which stimulates the immune system to fight the cancer.