COLUMBUS, Ohio — A drug-free technology that uses low-intensity electric fields reduced tumor growth and spread in preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, according to new research from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James).
The treatment also appeared to make the area around tumors more active against cancer. These findings were published in the June 2026 issue of the journal Breast Cancer: Targets and Therapy .
Technology could offer a non-invasive treatment option
Triple-negative breast cancer can be hard to treat because it lacks the hormone or protein targets found in some other breast cancers. It also has a higher risk of coming back or spreading, and chemotherapy remains an important treatment for many patients. The disease often spreads to the lungs and brain, making it particularly difficult to treat.
This new approach uses low-intensity electric fields with the potential to be delivered from outside the body using a wearable device, unlike existing electric field-based treatments that require contact electrodes.
“When people hear ‘electric fields,’ they may picture something like being shocked or zapped. That is not what we are talking about. The current does not run through the body. Instead, a wearable device can generate low-intensity fields that interact with cancer cells in a controlled way,” said Jonathan Song, PhD , co-corresponding author of the study. Song is a researcher with the OSUCCC – James Cancer Biology Research Program, co-director of the Center for Cancer Engineering-CURES , and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State College of Engineering .
Researchers found that the electric fields affected several cancer-related processes, including how cancer cells move, spread and use energy.
In cases where breast cancer had spread to the lungs, the treatment also reduced immune-suppressing cells and increased cancer-fighting immune cells.
“One unexpected finding was that these electric fields did not appear to act only on cancer cells. They also seemed to change the area around the tumor in a way that may help the body recognize and fight cancer,” said Song.
The current findings are based on preclinical models, not patients. OSUCCC – James researchers partnered with EMBioSys, Inc to develop a wearable investigational device, which will be tested in an upcoming National Institutes of Health-sponsored human clinical trial.
“This technology is still in an early stage, and the next step is clinical testing. But the idea that a wearable, low-powered device could one day help treat breast cancer as part of a patient’s daily life is very compelling,” said Song.
Ohio State coauthors in the study include Manish Charan, Travis H Jones, Dinesh K Ahirwar, Nandini Acharya, Vish V Subramaniam, Konstantin Shilo and Ramesh K Ganju. The work was supported by an Pelotonia-funded Idea Grant and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, an Accelerator Award supported by the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship at Ohio State University and the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Start-up Fund.
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Breast Cancer Targets and Therapy
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16-Jun-2026