REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
This article is part of the Research TopicRadiation and Tumour Treating Fields: Mechanisms and Applications in OncologyView all articles
Pulsed electric fields (PEFs): A sharp sword in the battle against cancers
Provisionally accepted
Lu Zhang1*
Shoulong Dong2
Fei Teng1Yuan Wang1Wei Xu1Yang Chen1Guojing Zhao1Liang Yu2
Chenguo Yao2Zhiqiang Wang1- 1Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
- 2Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
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Cancer remains a significant threat to human health, and conventional treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy have their limitations. In recent years, pulsed electric fields (PEFs) has garnered attention as an emerging method for cancer treatment. It primarily utilizes high-intensity pulse electric fields applied to tumor cells, inducing effects such as electroporation or internal electrical processing, which lead to cell death. This review will introduce the principles of PEFs, its application fields, and its prospects in cancer treatment, aiming to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the research areas related to PEFs and cancer therapy.
Keywords: pulsed electric fields, Cancer, Irreversible electroporation, Immunotherapy, mechanism of action, Clinical prospects
Received: 09 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Dong, Teng, Wang, Xu, Chen, Zhao, Yu, Yao and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lu Zhang, luzhang_524@aliyun.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.