ArticleScientific reports2015
Mitotic Spindle Disruption by Alternating Electric Fields Leads to Improper Chromosome Segregation and Mitotic Catastrophe in Cancer Cells.
Article in Scientific reports, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 10 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 185 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Pivotal, Open-label, Randomized Study of Radiosurgery With or Without Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) for 1-10 Brain Metastases From Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).
LUNAR: Pivotal, Randomized, Open-label Study of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) Concurrent With Standard of Care Therapies for Treatment of Stage 4 Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Following Platinum Failure
The Use of TTFields for Newly Diagnosed GBM Patients in Germany in Routine Clinical Care - TIGER Study
Pivotal, Randomized, Open-label Study of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields, 150kHz) Concomitant With Gemcitabine and Nab-paclitaxel for Front-line Treatment of Locally-advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
HEPANOVA: a Phase II Trial of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields, 150kHz) Concomitant with Sorafenib for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)
ENGOT-ov50 / GOG-3029 / INNOVATE-3: Pivotal, Randomized, Open-label Study of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields, 200kHz) Concomitant With Weekly Paclitaxel for the Treatment of Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
A Phase 2, Single Arm, Multi-center, Open-Label Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Treatment with Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) and Chemotherapy As First-Line Treatment for Subjects with Unresectable Gastroesophageal Junction (GEJ) Adenocarcinoma or Gastric (GC) Adenocarcinoma
EF-33: An Open-Label Pilot Study of OPTUNE® (TTFields, 200 Khz) With High Density Transducer Arrays for the Treatment of Recurrent Glioblastoma
Use of TTFields in Germany in Routine Clinical Care Study PROgram - Daily Activity, Sleep and Neurocognitive Functioning in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Patients Study
EF-36/Keynote B36: A Pilot, Randomized, Open-label Study of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields, 150 kHz) Concomitant With Pembrolizumab for First Line Treatment of Advanced or Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
Who cites it
185 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 309 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of tumor treating fields on overall and progression-free survival in newly diagnosed glioblastoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2026Pooled it
- Congress of Neurological Surgeons systematic review and evidence-based guidelines update on the role of cytotoxic chemotherapy and other cytotoxic therapies in the management of progressive glioblastoma in adults.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2022Guideline
- Alternating electric tumor treating fields for treatment of glioblastoma: rationale, preclinical, and clinical studies.Journal of neurosurgery · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
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- Health-related quality of life, cognitive screening, and functional status in a randomized phase III trial (EF-14) of tumor treating fields with temozolomide compared to temozolomide alone in newly diagnosed glioblastoma.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2017Trial
- Tumor Treating Fields Enhance Temozolomide-Associated Growth Suppression in Glioblastoma Cells and Patient-Derived Organoids Through Cell-Cycle Blockade, Apoptosis, and SMAD-Associated Signaling.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Magnetically actuated nanoantennas for wireless glioblastoma therapy.Science advances · 2026Article
- Triple-Frequency Electromagnetic Stimulation Combined with Fingolimod Reduces Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation and Metastasis-Associated Extracellular Vesicle Protein Levels.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Piezo-Bio Interaction Interfaces: The Linchpin of Piezoelectric Nanomaterials Toward Biomedicine.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Review
- Exploratory analysis of miRNAs-21, -26a, -34a, -181c, -181d, and -485-5p as potential biomarkers for tumor treating fields sensitivity in primary glioblastoma cell cultures.Brain tumor pathology · 2026Article
- Engineering the tumor immune landscape: Translating non-invasive physical stimulation into tumor-associated macrophage-targeted cancer immunotherapy.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2026Review
- Efficacy and immunogenic effects of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) in preclinical models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, with and without gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Silent forces, hidden currents: the influence of static magnetic field stimulation on tumor biophysics.npj biomedical innovations · 2026Review
- Role of matrix metalloproteinases in the invasion of glioblastoma and drug interventions (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Electricity-Based Locoregional Cancer Therapies and Their Associated Drug Delivery Technologies: From Principles of Action to Clinical Implications.Biomaterials research · 2026Review
- Translating physical stress into biological signals: precision electro-oncology based on conformational changes of electro-sensitive receptors and parameterized immune remodeling.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), and their concomitant application with FOLFOX, are effective for the treatment of gastric cancer cells.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Tumor treating fields in malignant pleural mesothelioma: from cytoskeletal collapse to immunophenotypic conversion.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
125 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) are low intensity, intermediate frequency, alternating electric fields. TTFields are a unique anti-mitotic treatment modality delivered in a continuous, noninvasive manner to the region of a tumor. It was previously postulated that by exerting directional forces on highly polar intracellular elements during mitosis, TTFields could disrupt the normal assembly of spindle microtubules. However there is limited evidence directly linking TTFields to an effect on microtubules. Here we report that TTFields decrease the ratio between polymerized and total tubulin, and prevent proper mitotic spindle assembly. The aberrant mitotic events induced by TTFields lead to abnormal chromosome segregation, cellular multinucleation, and caspase dependent apoptosis of daughter cells. The effect of TTFields on cell viability and clonogenic survival substantially depends upon the cell division rate. We show that by extending the duration of exposure to TTFields, slowly dividing cells can be affected to a similar extent as rapidly dividing cells.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.