Injectable Fiber Electronics for Tumor Treatment

Electrochemical therapy emerged as a low-cost and effective method for tumor ablation. However, it has challenges such as the production of toxic byproducts and the use of rigid electrodes that damage soft tissues. Here, we report a new injectable and tissue-compatible fiber therapeutic electronics for safe and efficient tumor treatment. The design of aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber as electrodes endowed the device with high softness and enabled mini-invasive implantation through injection. Under a mild voltage (1.2 V), the fiber device released hydroxyl ions to alter the local chemical environment of the tissues without additional toxic products/gases, leading to immediate death of tumor cells. The flexible fiber device could form stable interface with tissues and showed good biocompatibility after implantation for 30 days. The in vitro experimental results showed the fiber device could efficiently kill 90.9% of QGY-7703 cancer cells after a single treatment in a few minutes. The tumor-bearing animal models proved that the fiber therapeutic device could effectively inhibit the growth of tumor tissues, indicating it is a safe, effective, controllable and low-cost method for tumor therapy.