Electrically mediated drug delivery for treatment of an adenocarcinoma transplanted into rat liver

BACKGROUND: In this study, electrochemotherapy (ECT), i.e. tumour treatment based on local augmentation of intracellular drug delivery from short, intense electric pulses, was evaluated in rats with an adenocarcinoma implanted into the liver. Tumour response and concentrations of macrophages and T-lymphocytes (CD4 and CD8) in and around the tumour were measured.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rats were treated with permeabilizing electric pulses, bleomycin, or both, eight days after implantation of the tumour, while one group received sham treatment.RESULTS: Treatment with electric pulses and bleomycin resulted in a significantly reduced lesion volume and 92% cure rate (12 out of 13, p<0.0002 compared to the other treatment groups). The highest concentration of CD8 lymphocytes was found in tumours treated with electric pulses and bleomycin. Macrophages were found mainly in tumours treated with electric pulses, with or without bleomycin.CONCLUSION: Electrochemotherapy using millisecond exponential pulses and bleomycin is efficient in a rat liver tumour model and appears to stimulate the host's immune system

Δr in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model at full one loop level—and beyond

After the recent discovery of a Higgs-like boson particle at the CERN LHC-collider, it becomes more necessary than ever to prepare ourselves for identifying its standard or non-standard nature. The Electroweak parameter Delta r relating the values of the gauge boson masses [MW,MZ] and the Fermi constant [G_F] is the traditional observable encoding high precision information of the electroweak physics at the quantum level. In this work we present a complete quantitative study of Delta r in the framework of the general (unconstrained) Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM). First of all we report on a systematic analysis of Delta r at the full one loop level in the general 2HDM, which to our knowledge was missing in the literature. Thereby we extract a theoretical prediction for the mass of the W-boson in this model, taking MZ, \alpha_{em} and G_F as experimental inputs. We find typical corrections leading to mass shifts $\delta MW \sim 20-40 MeV$ which help to improve the agreement with the experimentally measured value, in a degree no less significant than in the MSSM case. In the second part of our study we extend our calculation beyond the mere one-loop order. We devise an effective Lagrangian approach that captures the dominant higher order quantum effects on delta rho (viz. that part of Delta r describing the breaking of the approximate SU(2) custodial symmetry) in the limit of large Higgs boson self-interactions. This limit constitutes a telltale property of the general 2HDM which is unmatched by e.g. the MSSM. Our conclusion is that the Electroweak precision program to be conducted at the LHC, and maybe at a future linear collider, can nicely complement the direct searches. Should these distinctive loop effects be eventually found they would signal a smoking gun hinting at non-standard Higgs physics.Comment: LaTeX, 12 figures, 4 tables. Extended discussion, references added. Version accepted in Eur. Phys. J.