Nucleic acids electro-transfer: from bench to bedside.

There are a number of stigmas attached to the development of antitumor drugs such as their safe and efficient delivery into target cells or tissues. The one such case is that of macromolecules, such as nucleic acids where it poses severe limits. From this point of view, electro-pulsation proves to be a promising method for cancer-associated gene therapy. It involves the direct application of electric pulses on cells or tissues which leads to a transient permeabilization of their plasma membrane allowing efficient in vitro and in vivo delivery of exogenous molecules. The present review probes the electrotransfer of nucleic acids, the nature of nucleic acids (plasmid DNA, mRNA, siRNA, LNA...) which can be electrotransferred and the mechanism of their electrotransfer.