ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1592610
Evaluating the Immune Response in a Murine Cancer Model Between Irreversible Electroporation and an Advanced Biphasic Pulsed Electric Field Technology
Provisionally accepted
- Galvanize Therapeutics Inc. Department of Translational Science, Redwood City, United States
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Non-thermal ablation, including irreversible electroporation (IRE) and Aliya®, an advanced biphasic pulsed electric field (aPEF) technology, have emerged as effective tumor ablation approaches, particularly in sensitive anatomical locations. These methods not only ablate tumors but also may stimulate immune responses. This study compares the immunological impact of biphasic aPEF and IRE in a murine breast cancer model. Equal-sized tumor ablations were performed using both technologies, followed by analysis of cytokine profiles, immune cell populations, tumor growth, and overall survival. aPEF induced a differentiated tumor microenvironment four days post-ablation compared to IRE, with greater intratumoral infiltration of T-cells, B-cells, increased M1 macrophages, and decreased myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Analysis of systemic circulating immunocytes 14 days post-ablation showed elevated levels of B-cells, CD4 and CD8 T-cells (including memory subpopulations) in the aPEF-ablated groups. aPEF also resulted in better control of ablated and contralateral tumor growth, leading to improved median survival. This study demonstrates that the specific biphasic aPEF system evaluated here induces a stronger immunostimulatory effect and superior tumor control compared to IRE, supporting the notion that not all non-thermal ablation is equal, and each may be ideally suited to different objectives. Further clinical investigations into the potential for better clinical outcomes from this specific advanced pulsed electric field technology is warranted.
Keywords: ire, PEF, APEF, aliya, non-thermal ablation, ablative immunostimulation
Received: 12 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nafie, Pastori and Neal II. 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: Ebtesam H.O Nafie, Galvanize Therapeutics Inc. Department of Translational Science, Redwood City, United States
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