Elucidating the mechanism of 200 kHz tumor treating fields with a modified DEP theory

AC electric field at 200 kHz has been used to kill tumor cells, possibly by inducing dielectrophoretic movement of molecules including tubulin and septin, which causes aberrant cell mitosis behavior. Currently no satisfactory models have been developed to elucidate the underlying mechanism. In this paper, we have proposed a modified DEP theory for calculating force in nonhomogeneous particles. By applying the new theory, we find out that the induced interaction between septin filaments is likely to be the main cause of tumor cell death.