Effects and possible anti-tumor immunity of electrochemotherapy with bleomycin on human colon cancer xenografts in nude mice

Table 1 Mean tumor volume and tumor weight before and after treatment.

Group	Mean tumor volume		Tumor volume variance (mm3)	Tumor weight aftertreatment (mg)
	Before (mm3)	After (mm3)
B+E+	37.92±5.39	19.28±8.831	-18.65±7.681	14.48±6.651
B+E-	38.84±5.47	46.93±13.23	8.09±12.53	35.31±10.01
B-E+	37.79±5.45	48.15±8.19	10.36±4.41	36.08±6.25
B-E-	39.32±6.30	53.20±7.22	13.88±2.44	39.99±5.41
F value	F = 0.17	F = 25.22	F = 36.80	F = 25.32
P value	P = 0.917	P<0.01	P<0.01	P<0.01

¹B-E-, no treatment; B+E-, administration of bleomycin alone; B-E+, administration of electric pulses alone; B+E+, ECT.

Table 2 The response rates of the four groups after treatment.

Group	CR (%)	PR (%)	Stab (%)	Prog (%)
B+E+	1 (10)	7 (70)	2 (20)	0 (0)
B+E-	0 (0)	1 (10)	2 (20)	7 (70)
B-E+	0 (0)	1 (10)	1 (10)	8 (80)
B-E-	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	10 (100)

B-E-, no treatment; B+E-, administration of bleomycin alone; B-E+, administration of electric pulses alone; B+E+, ECT (χ² = 25.67, P<0.01).

Table 3 Total splenocytes and activity of NK cells and LAK cells of each group.

Group	Total splenocytes (106)	Activity of NK cells	Activity of LAK cells
B+E+	110.8±10.62	18.49±2.73	23.51±2.41
B+E-	114.3±10.68	18.89±2.57	25.21±3.09
B-E+	116.4±10.32	18.68±2.86	25.32±2.90
B-E-	117.4±12.89	19.79±2.64	24.84±2.53

B-E-, no treatment; B+E-, administration of bleomycin alone; B-E+, administration of electric pulses alone; B+E+, ECT.