Advancement in tumor treating fields of mechanism, clinical applications, and future directions

Abstract

Traditional cancer treatment modalities, such as surgical interventions, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, persist as the cornerstone of standard care across a wide array of clinical settings. Despite their established effectiveness in combating cancer, these therapies are inherently invasive in nature and have great side effects, which seriously affect the quality of life of patients. Tumor Treating Fields is a low-intensity intermediate-frequency alternating electric field. Based on the current clinical study of Tumor Treating Fields in brain tumors, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initially approved Tumor Treating Fields in 2015 for the treatment of newly diagnosed or relapsed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and in 2019 for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). However, Tumor Treating Fields is still not widely appreciated in the treatment of high-mortality cancers, and although the therapeutic effect of Tumor Treating Fields has been validated in cell experiments and clinical trials, how to optimize its therapeutic effect remains to be studied. In this paper, the mechanism of Tumor Treating Fields treatment and its clinical progress were reviewed, and the dosimetry and numerical simulation of individualized treatment were comprehensively summarized, in order provide new ideas for further clinical research of this treatment model.