Tissue ablation using nanosecond electric pulses

Abstract

Nanosecond electric pulses were first applied to mice for tumor ablation in 2002. Since that time this technology has been used in dozens of laboratories in the USA, Europe, and Asia (Batista et al. 2016). Rather than ablating by applying heat or introducing a poison to physically damage the tumor, these nanosecond pulses penetrate into the interior of cells and trigger the cell's own apoptosis pathway to initiate programmed cell death which occurs naturally in most cells in our bodies once they have served their purpose. Therefore, the nanosecond pulses have a cellular effect by sending the appropriate signal to the exposed cells, leading to the name, Nano-Pulse Electro-Signaling. If the treated cells are tumors, they will have neoantigens that the body's immune system has not seen before, and this immunogenic apoptosis pathway will then enlist the immune system to target and destroy any cells with those same unique antigens on their surface. This Nano-Pulse Electro-Signaling therapy both triggers apoptosis in treated tumors and essentially transforms tumors into vaccines to direct the immune system to destroy them. This therapy is drug-free and nonthermal so has advantages over other tumor ablation therapies that will be discussed here. The most important of these is the ability to enlist the immune system to provide a systemic attack on similar tumor cells elsewhere in the body.