The additive effect of 17β-estradiol on the modulation of electrochemotherapy with calcium ions or cisplatin in human clear carcinoma cells

Calcium electroporation (CaEP) is an efficient approach for ovarian cancer treatment. It causes cell death by introducing elevated levels of calcium into cells. In this work, the research focused on two types of cell lines: CHO-K1, representing normal ovary cells, and OvBH-1, representing ovarian clear carcinoma cells. Those cell lines exhibited distinct reactions to calcium electroporation (CaEP). Also, we have evaluated the effects of 17β-estradiol following CaEP and electrochemotherapy (ECT) with cisplatin (CPP). The combination of ECT with CPP and CaEP with prior E₂ preincubation resulted in approximately 23.55 % and 39 % decreases in cell survival compared to the control cells (exposed to CPP and CaCl₂ alone) for ovarian cancer cells. The obtained results showed that ovarian cancer cells preincubated with 17β-estradiol after exposure to pulsed electric fields undergo primary necrosis. Additionally, preincubation of ovarian cancer cells with 17β-estradiol can significantly improve the effectiveness of both chemotherapy and electrochemotherapy involving cisplatin and calcium chloride.