ABSTRACT

Malignant tumor treatment remains a big challenge till now, and expanding literature indicated that pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) is promising in tumor treatment with the advantage of safety and being economical, but it is still controversial on whether PEMF could affect the tumor cell viability. Therefore, we conducted the meta-analysis to evaluate effects of PEMF on tumor cell viability. The PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for studies published up to February 2021. Studies on the direct effects of PEMF on tumor cell viability, determined using colorimetric analysis, were included. Two authors extracted the data and completed the quality assessment. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate the absorbance values and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using random-effects models. Seven studies, including 32 randomized controlled experiments, were analyzed. Compared with the control group, tumor cell viability in the PEMF exposure group was obviously lower (SMD, −0.67; 95% CI: −1.12 to −0.22). The subgroup meta-analysis results showed that PEMF significantly reduced epithelial cancer cell viability (SMD, −0.58; 95% CI: −0.92 to −0.23) but had no influence on stromal tumor cell viability (SMD, −0.93; 95% CI: −0.21 to 0.15). Our study demonstrated that PEMF could inhibit tumor cell proliferation to some extent, but the risk of bias and high heterogeneity (I² > 75%) weakened the strength of the conclusions drawn from the analysis.

摘要

迄今为止，恶性肿瘤的治疗仍然是一个巨大的挑战，越来越多的文献表明脉冲电磁场​​（PEMF）在肿瘤治疗中具有安全性和经济性的优势，但对于脉冲电磁场​​是否会影响肿瘤细胞活力仍存在争议。因此，我们进行了荟萃分析来评估 PEMF 对肿瘤细胞活力的影响。在 PubMed、EMBASE、Web of Science 和 Cochrane 图书馆数据库中搜索了截至 2021 年 2 月发表的研究。包括使用比色分析确定的关于 PEMF 对肿瘤细胞活力的直接影响的研究。两位作者提取数据并完成质量评估。使用随机效应模型进行荟萃分析以计算吸光度值和 95% 置信区间 (CI)。七项研究，包括32个随机对照实验，进行了分析。与对照组相比，PEMF暴露组的肿瘤细胞活力明显降低（SMD，-0.67；95% CI：-1.12至-0.22）。亚组荟萃分析结果显示，PEMF 显着降低上皮癌细胞活力（SMD，-0.58；95% CI：-0.92 至 -0.23），但对基质肿瘤细胞活力没有影响（SMD，-0.93；95% CI： -0.21 到 0.15)。我们的研究表明，PEMF 可以在一定程度上抑制肿瘤细胞增殖，但存在偏倚风险和高异质性（I 亚组荟萃分析结果显示，PEMF 显着降低上皮癌细胞活力（SMD，-0.58；95% CI：-0.92 至 -0.23），但对基质肿瘤细胞活力没有影响（SMD，-0.93；95% CI： -0.21 到 0.15)。我们的研究表明，PEMF 可以在一定程度上抑制肿瘤细胞增殖，但存在偏倚风险和高异质性（I 亚组荟萃分析结果显示，PEMF 显着降低上皮癌细胞活力（SMD，-0.58；95% CI：-0.92 至 -0.23），但对基质肿瘤细胞活力没有影响（SMD，-0.93；95% CI： -0.21 到 0.15)。我们的研究表明，PEMF 可以在一定程度上抑制肿瘤细胞增殖，但存在偏倚风险和高度异质性（I²  > 75%) 削弱了从分析中得出的结论的强度。