State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, P. R. China.
Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, P. R. China.
Adv Mater. 2019 Apr;31(14):e1806803. doi: 10.1002/adma.201806803. Epub 2019 Feb 8.
Electrochemical therapy (EChT), by inserting electrodes directly into tumors to kill cancer cells under direct current (DC), is clinically used in several countries. In EChT, the drastic pH variation nearby the inserted electrodes is the main cause of tumor damage. However, its limited effective area and complex electrode configuration have hindered the clinical application of EChT in treating diverse tumor types. Herein, a conceptually new electric cancer treatment approach is presented through an electro-driven catalytic reaction with platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) under a square-wave alternating current (AC). The electric current triggers a reaction between water molecules and chloride ions on the surface of the PtNPs, generating cytotoxic hydroxyl radicals. Such a mechanism, called electrodynamic therapy (EDT), enables effective killing of cancer cells within the whole electric field, in contrast to EChT, which is limited to areas nearby electrodes. Remarkable tumor destruction efficacy is further demonstrated in this in vivo EDT treatment with PtNPs. Therefore, this study presents a new type of cancer therapy strategy with a tumor-killing mechanism different from existing methods, using nanoparticles with electrocatalytic functions. This EDT method appears to be minimally invasive, and is able to offer homogeneous killing effects to the entire tumor with a relatively large size.
电化学疗法（EChT）通过将电极直接插入肿瘤中，在直流电（DC）下杀死癌细胞，已在多个国家临床应用。在 EChT 中，插入电极附近剧烈的 pH 变化是肿瘤损伤的主要原因。然而，其有限的有效面积和复杂的电极结构阻碍了 EChT 在治疗多种肿瘤类型中的临床应用。在此，通过在方波交流电（AC）下使用铂纳米粒子（PtNPs）的电驱动催化反应，提出了一种概念新颖的电癌症治疗方法。电流在 PtNPs 表面引发水分子和氯离子之间的反应，生成细胞毒性的羟基自由基。这种机制称为动电疗法（EDT），能够有效杀死整个电场内的癌细胞，而不同于仅限于电极附近区域的 EChT。PtNPs 的体内 EDT 治疗进一步证明了其显著的肿瘤破坏效果。因此，本研究提出了一种使用具有电催化功能的纳米粒子的新型癌症治疗策略，其杀伤机制与现有方法不同。这种 EDT 方法似乎具有微创性，并且能够对较大尺寸的整个肿瘤进行均匀的杀伤效果。
