Published: 2 December 2025

Saravana R. K. Murthy, Taisen Zhuang, Olivia Z. Jones, Yasmine Dakak, Michael Keidar, Aviram Nissan, and Jerome Canady. 

Residual tumor cells left behind after surgery are a major cause of cancer local recurrence. The Canady Helios Cold Plasma (CHCP) system is a novel non-thermal (24 ◦C), non-contact technology that generates plasma electromagnetic fields capable of selectively killing cancer cells while sparing surrounding normal tissue. In this study, we demonstrate that CHCP induces irreversible electroporation (IRE), a process that disrupts tumor cell membranes and enables entry of molecules such as dyes and therapeutic siRNAs. Using multiple breast cancer cell lines, CHCP was shown to cause voltage- and time-dependent membrane permeabilization, leading to cell death and loss of tumor-forming ability. Importantly, analysis of tumor margin specimens from our Phase I clinical trial (NCT04267575) confirmed that CHCP effectively killed tumor cells while preserving adjacent healthy tissue. These findings highlight CHCP as the first plasma-based IRE platform to induce selective tumor cell death at the surgical margins, thus reducing local recurrence and improving survival outcomes for patients after surgical resection of solid tumors.