The rise of bioelectric medicine sparks interest among researchers, patients, and industry

Peeples, Lynne

doi:10.1073/pnas.1919040116

Cited by 26 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…[ 1 ] This value is mostly divided between the bioelectronics for retinal, cochlear implants, cardiac solution, and peripheral and central nervous system stimulation. [ 2 ] Advances in neuroscience have shown that both central and peripheral nervous systems play a key role in diseases with the highest mortality, such as cancer. [ 3 ] Together with the advances in tumor innervation, researchers have realized the potential of capturing and analyzing bioelectrical signals from the body for the detection and treatment of tumors using bioelectronic devices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Hijacking Bioelectricity in Cancer to Develop New Bioelectronic Medicine

Robinson

Jain

Sherman

et al. 2021

Advanced Therapeutics

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Bioelectronic medicine is a treatment modality that uses electricity to treat disease by altering the body's electrical communication systems. All cells are electrically active, in that they possess bioelectric circuitry generating a resting membrane potential and endogenous electric fields that influence cell functions and communication. There is now an accepted paradigm that cancer is characterized by malfunctions in cells' bioelectrical circuitry. This yields opportunities for bioelectronic medicine as novel treatments for cancer by manipulating its bioelectrical properties. To highlight the possibilities a bioelectrical approach can offer cancer therapy, the relevance of bioelectrical activity in cancer is reviewed and also how such activity can be hijacked in novel treatments. This includes sensing or measuring the electrical activity of cells for diagnostic and prognostic applications, controlling or altering bioelectricity including both ionic and faradaic current processes, and eliciting morphological changes using electric fields. Importantly, key links between cellular ionic and faradaic processes that contribute to cancer phenotypes are presented, which if considered and understood as a whole, can bring broad-reaching improvements to cancer therapy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Hijacking Bioelectricity in Cancer to Develop New Bioelectronic Medicine

Robinson

Jain

Sherman

et al. 2021

Advanced Therapeutics

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“…Major pharmaceutical companies are investing in bioelectric medicine: GSK and Verily Life Sciences established Galvani Bioelectronics in 2016 with an investment of up to £540 million over 7 years, 40 and Johnson & Johnson's portfolio includes several bioelectronic devices. 1 In addition, the US National Institutes of Health is funding the Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program to accelerate development of therapeutic devices that modulate electrical activity in nerves to improve organ function. 41 The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has an Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx) program, which aims to deliver nonpharmacological treatments for pain, inflammation, post-traumatic stress, severe anxiety and trauma, using closed-loop, noninvasive modulation of the patient's PNS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neural therapeutic targets include the brain (DBS), 13 the vagus nerve, 18 the spinal cord, 16 and the sacral nerve, but this figure is by no means exhaustive and there are potential opportunities for therapeutic stimulation throughout the CNS and PNS. 1 The asterisk indicates uses which are approved by the FDA. DBS, Deep brain stimulation; PNS, peripheral nervous system; CNS, central nervous system.…”

Section: Open-loop Stimulators Lack Therapeutic Precisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With its many pathways and targeted effects, the nervous system provides a natural route for therapeutic interventions to counteract dysfunction within the body, and it holds real promise as an alternative or complementary therapy for conditions not adequately controlled by traditional pharmaceuticals. 1 The global bioelectric medicine market is estimated at $18.6 billion in 2020, a figure that is forecast to grow to $28.5 billion in 2026. 2 Modulating neural activity could provide treatments for many diseases with unmet needs, including heart failure, 3 hypertension, 4 inflammation, 5 arthritis, 6 asthma, 7 Alzheimer's disease, 8 and diabetes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Next-Generation Bioelectric Medicine: Harnessing the Therapeutic Potential of Neural Implants

Lee¹,

Jeakins²,

Tukiainen³

et al. 2020

Bioelectricity

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Bioelectric medicine leverages natural signaling pathways in the nervous system to counteract organ dysfunction. This novel approach has potential to address conditions with unmet needs, including heart failure, hypertension, inflammation, arthritis, asthma, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes. Neural therapies, which target the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerves, are already being applied to conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, and chronic pain. While today's therapies have made exciting advancements, their open-loop design-where stimulation is administered without collecting feedback-means that results can be variable and devices do not work for everyone. Stimulation effects are sensitive to changes in neural tissue, nerve excitability, patient position, and more. Closing the loop by providing neural or non-neural biomarkers to the system can guide therapy by providing additional insights into stimulation effects and overall patient condition. Devices currently on the market use recorded biomarkers to close the loop and improve therapy. The future of bioelectric medicine is more holistically personalized. Collected data will be used for increasingly precise application of neural stimulations to achieve therapeutic effects. To achieve this future, advances are needed in device design, implanted and computational technologies, and scientific/medical interpretation of neural activity. Research and commercial devices are enabling the development of multiple levels of responsiveness to neural, physiological, and environmental changes. This includes developing suitable implanted technologies for high bandwidth brain/machine interfaces and addressing the challenge of neural or state biomarker decoding. Consistent progress is being made in these challenges toward the long-term vision of automatically and holistically personalized care for chronic health conditions.

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“…There is growing interest in targeted electrical stimulation of nerves such as the vagus nerve (called bioelectric medicine) to treat inflammatory diseases, a strategy which has been reviewed comprehensively elsewhere. 45 , 115 In the coming years, we expect to see many more examples of bioelectronic medicine and neuromodulating drugs as promising therapeutic strategies in the intestine to ameliorate IBD, enteric infection, and food allergy.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The intestinal neuro-immune axis: crosstalk between neurons, immune cells, and microbes

et al. 2021

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The gastrointestinal tract is densely innervated by a complex network of neurons that coordinate critical physiological functions. Here, we summarize recent studies investigating the crosstalk between gut-innervating neurons, resident immune cells, and epithelial cells at homeostasis and during infection, food allergy, and inflammatory bowel disease. We introduce the neuroanatomy of the gastrointestinal tract, detailing gut-extrinsic neuron populations from the spinal cord and brain stem, and neurons of the intrinsic enteric nervous system. We highlight the roles these neurons play in regulating the functions of innate immune cells, adaptive immune cells, and intestinal epithelial cells. We discuss the consequences of such signaling for mucosal immunity. Finally, we discuss how the intestinal microbiota is integrated into the neuro-immune axis by tuning neuronal and immune interactions. Understanding the molecular events governing the intestinal neuro-immune signaling axes will enhance our knowledge of physiology and may provide novel therapeutic targets to treat inflammatory diseases.

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The rise of bioelectric medicine sparks interest among researchers, patients, and industry

Cited by 26 publications

References 19 publications

Toward Hijacking Bioelectricity in Cancer to Develop New Bioelectronic Medicine

Toward Hijacking Bioelectricity in Cancer to Develop New Bioelectronic Medicine

Next-Generation Bioelectric Medicine: Harnessing the Therapeutic Potential of Neural Implants

The intestinal neuro-immune axis: crosstalk between neurons, immune cells, and microbes

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