Characterization of two distinct immortalized endothelial cell lines, EA.hy926 and HMEC-1, for in vitro studies: exploring the impact of calcium electroporation, Ca signaling and transcriptomic profiles.

Background: Disruption of Ca homeostasis after calcium electroporation (CaEP) in tumors has been shown to elicit an enhanced antitumor effect with varying impacts on healthy tissue, such as endothelium. Therefore, our study aimed to determine differences in Ca kinetics and gene expression involved in the regulation of Casignaling and homeostasis, as well as effects of CaEP on cytoskeleton and adherens junctions of the established endothelial cell lines EA.hy926 and HMEC-1.

The effectiveness of calcium electroporation combined with gene electrotransfer of a plasmid encoding IL-12 is tumor type-dependent.

Introduction: In calcium electroporation (CaEP), electroporation enables the cellular uptake of supraphysiological concentrations of Ca, causing the induction of cell death. The effectiveness of CaEP has already been evaluated in clinical trials; however, confirmatory preclinical studies are still needed to further elucidate its effectiveness and underlying mechanisms. Here, we tested and compared its efficiency on two different tumor models to electrochemotherapy (ECT) and in combination with gene electrotransfer (GET) of a plasmid encoding interleukin-12 (IL-12).