Electroporation in Translational Medicine: From Veterinary Experience to Human Oncology

Simple Summary The application of electric pulses to promote the delivery of anticancer molecules in in vitro and in vivo models is a widely accepted technique known as electroporation (EP). This technique has been diffusely adopted to increase the effectiveness of different antitumor therapies both in pets and in humans. Moreover, this approach has been instrumental to devise and develop novel charging systems to generate nanovesicles embedded drugs and vaccines. This article summarizes the state of art of different EP applications, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT), irreversible electroporation, and EP-based cancer vaccines, in veterinary and human oncology, describing the most recent progresses and the most striking obtained clinical results.Abstract Electroporation (EP) is a broadly accepted procedure that, through the application of electric pulses with appropriate amplitudes and waveforms, promotes the delivery of anticancer molecules in various oncology therapies. EP considerably boosts the absorptivity of targeted cells to anticancer molecules of different natures, thus upgrading their effectiveness. Its use in veterinary oncology has been widely explored, and some applications, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT), are currently approved as first-line treatments for several neoplastic conditions. Other applications include irreversible electroporation and EP-based cancer vaccines. In human oncology, EP is still mostly restricted to therapies for cutaneous tumors and the palliation of cutaneous and visceral metastases of malignant tumors. Fields where veterinary experience could help smooth the clinical transition to humans include intraoperative EP, interventional medicine and cancer vaccines. This article recapitulates the state of the art of EP in veterinary and human oncology, recounting the most relevant results to date.