Pulsed electric fields for selection of hematopoietic cells and depletion of tumor cell contaminants

Purging of tumor cells and selection of stem cells are key technologies for enabling stem cell transplantation and stem cell gene therapy. Here we report a strategy for cell selection based on physical properties of the cells. Exposing cells to an external pulsed electric field (PEF) increases the natural potential difference across the cell membrane until a critical threshold is reached and pore formation occurs, resulting in fatal perturbation of cell physiology. Attaining this threshold is a function of the applied field intensity and cell size, with larger cells porated at lower field intensities than smaller cells. Since hematopoietic stem cells are smaller than other hematopoietic cells and tumor cells, we found that exposure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to PEFs caused stepwise elimination of monocytes without affecting the function of smaller lymphocyte populations. Mobilized peripheral blood exposed to PEFs was enriched for CD34(+)/CD38(-) cells and stem cell function was preserved. Furthermore, PEF treatment was able to selectively purge blood preparations of tumor cells and eradicate transplantable tumor.