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Episode Overview
In this groundbreaking episode of The Prescribed Podcast, Dr. Nathan Goodyear sits down with Dr. Jason R. Williams—world leader in intratumoral immunotherapy and ablation—to explore how combining Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) therapy with systemic and surgical cancer treatments is revolutionizing outcomes. Together, they unpack two pivotal studies showing how local tumor-targeted immunotherapy, when used as a bridge with conventional therapies, enhances systemic immune activation, reduces metastasis by over 80%, and creates long-term immune memory against recurrence. This isn’t just a conversation—it’s a call to action for patients, clinicians, and policymakers to rethink cancer care from immune suppression to immune empowerment.
📌 Key Takeaways The immune system is the best defense against cancer—both for prevention and treatment. Limitations of conventional cancer care: chemo, radiation, and surgery often harm immune function while failing to fully saturate tumors. PEF turns “cold” tumors hot: enhancing antigen presentation, stimulating innate and adaptive immunity, and triggering epitope spreading. Intratumoral immunotherapy advantages: high local concentration, microdosing, reduced toxicity, and the potential for systemic “abscopal” effects. Study #1 (Pastori et al., 2024): PEF before chemo-immunotherapy increased 44% survival in unresected tumors, reduced lung metastases by 80.4%, and induced complete resistance to tumor rechallenge. Study #2 (Uher et al., 2025): Neoadjuvant intratumoral MBTA immunotherapy before surgery prevented metastases in multiple murine tumor models, even in large tumors, and built immune memory. Clinical relevance: Supports “Standard of Care Plus” model—layering local immune activation onto existing systemic or surgical plans. The tumor microenvironment (TME) matters: dense stroma, poor antigen presentation, and immunosuppressive cytokines must be addressed locally. Agricultural analogy: Like injecting treatment directly into the roots of a diseased tree rather than spraying systemically. The future of oncology: personalized, minimally invasive, immune-targeted strategies to preserve body parts and quality of life.
⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Episode intro 1:15 - Building a bridge from conventional to future cancer care 3:12 - Why local immune activation matters 5:00 - Preserving body parts & quality of life 8:13 - Limitations of systemic-only therapy 10:16 - The tumor microenvironment explained 13:35 - Why doctors resist change 16:03 - Epitope spreading: the holy grail of immunotherapy 18:20 - Treating multiple tumors vs. targeting one 20:13 - Managing recurrence with local therapy 23:18 - Historical immune activation strategies 26:45 - Hyperprogression and immune hijacking 32:46 - PEF as another form of immunotherapy 38:26 - Study #1: PEF + chemo-immunotherapy outcomes 50:51 - Study #2: MBTA immunotherapy before surgery 58:50 - Immune memory & systemic protection 1:03:12 - Patients as the force vector for change 1:05:01 - Closing thoughts and patient empowerment
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📚 Resources & Links Pastori, O., et al. (2024). Neoadjuvant Chemo-Immunotherapy is Improved with a Novel Pulsed Electric Field Technology in an Immune-Cold Murine Model. PLOS ONE, 19(3), e0318440. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318440 Uher, O., et al. (2025). Neoadjuvant intratumoral MBT(A) immunotherapy prevents distant metastases and recurrence in murine models. Cancer Letters, 612, 217464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2025.217464 Lattanzio, K., et al. (2025). Case study: Pulsed electric field ablation for salvage prostate cancer ablation. Urology Case Reports, 60, 103023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eucr.2025.103023
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