Cisplatin under oriented external electric fields: a deeper insight into
electrochemotherapy at the molecular level
Abstract
Electrochemotherapy is an effective strategy for the treatment of solid
tumors by exposing tumor cells to electric fields to enhance the
bioactivity of non-permeable or low permeable anticancer drugs, such as
cisplatin. To understand the improved efficiency of cisplatin in
electrochemotherapy, the effects of oriented external electric fields
(OEEFs) on the geometric structures and relevant electronic properties
of cisplatin have been systemically investigated by density functional
theory (DFT) computations in this work. Our results reveal that the
presence of positive OEEFs on cisplatin can not only weaken its Pt-Cl
bonds, but also enhance the intramolecular charge transfer in it, which
effectively accelerates the critical hydrolysis step involved in the
mechanism of its biological activity. Moreover, the positive OEEFs can
facilitate the attack of the singly aquated cis-[Pt(NH3)2(H2O)Cl]+
on DNA, and enlarge the dipole moments and water solubility of cisplatin
and its aquated product. Consequently, this work provides a deeper
insight into the higher efficacy of electrochemotherapy than traditional
chemotherapy from a molecular point of view.