肿瘤治疗电场研究进展

随着交流电场在医学领域的研究和应用逐步深入,研究人员发现低强度(1-2 V/cm)、中频(100-200 kHz)交流电场对肿瘤具有良好的治疗作用,此类电场也因此被称为肿瘤治疗电场(Tumor Treating Fields,TTFields)。研究表明TTFields对体外培养的肿瘤细胞具有干扰有丝分裂,诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡,抑制肿瘤的生长的作用;同时TTFields相关临床研究显示出TTFields对多种肿瘤的增殖和转移都发挥了抑制作用。而将TTFields与化疗药物联合应用作为二线方案治疗肿瘤,也被证明十分可行。更重要的是,无论是单独应用还是联合使用,TTFields产生的副作用与传统放疗、化疗手段相比甚小,患者生存质量也极大提高。本文就肿瘤治疗电场的相关机制以及临床前、临床研究进展做一综述。

Progresses and Perspectives of Tumor Treating Fields

With further study and utilization of the alternating fields, researchers have discovered that Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), which are low intensity(1-2 V/cm), intermediate frequency(100-200 kHz) alternating electric fields, possess the ability to treat cancers. By analyzing results of pre-clinical researches, we have found that TTFields can inhibit mitosis and proliferation of cancer cells and induce apoptosis to the cancer cells. Meanwhile, many clinical researches have shown that TTFields could possibly reduce the proliferation and metastasis of different cancers. Additionally, TTFields, combined with chemical drugs, are also proved to be effective to be used as a second-line treatment. Most importantly, whether we use TTFields as a mono-therapy or a accompany of other treatments, the side effects of certain therapy are very mild, compared with traditional radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Thus, we write a review to summarize the possible mechanismand the results of the pre-clinical and clinical researches.