How Electroporation Works
The phenomenon of electroporation
In the 1970s, scientists discovered that applying electrical pulses to a cell enabled dramatically increased uptake of a biological material into the cell. This phenomenon, called electroporation, has since been documented by thousands of scientific papers (examples). While widely used in research laboratories, in the 1990s the first research was undertaken to investigate potential human applications of electroporation.
Inovio Biomedical, through its predecessor, Genetronics Biomedical Inc., was a pioneer in advancing the understanding and practical applications of electroporation for basic biological research purposes. Electroporation products the company developed for research applications (divested to Harvard Biosciences in 2002) are available today under the BTX brand from multiple vendors.
Today, Inovio commands a dominant position in intellectual property relating to human applications of electroporation. Inovio research has shown the potential utility of electroporation for human applications including oncology, gene therapy (including DNA-based immunotherapies and vaccines), cosmetic, vascular, transdermal, plant and ex vivo applications.
In all of these applications, the purpose of electroporation is to assist the uptake of useful molecules such as DNA vaccine into a cell. The biological material is first injected into or applied to the surface of the target tissue and followed by the application of brief, controlled electrical pulses directed to that tissue. As shown in the pictures below, electroporation's millisecond electrical pulses temporarily create enhanced permeability of pores in the cell membrane. After a short period of time the pores reseal, leaving the cells undamaged. During the period that these pores exist, a significant quantity of the previously injected biomolecules are taken up and then trapped in the cell, enabling them to then perform their intended function.
How does the electroporation process work?
The following illustration depicts the process of administering a DNA vaccine using electroporation:
Inovio's electroporation technology can increase the cellular uptake (also termed transfection) of an agent by 1,000 times or more. When used to deliver DNA vaccines, Inovio's systems can increase levels of gene expression (i.e. production of the coded protein) by 100 times or more compared to plasmid DNA delivered without other delivery enhancements.
What results have been achieved using electroporation-based DNA delivery?
Learn about Inovio's DNA delivery systems.