Cold Atmospheric Plasma in the Treatment of Osteosarcoma

Abstract

Human osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant bone tumor occurring most commonly in adolescents and young adults. Major improvements in disease-free survival have been achieved by implementing a combination therapy consisting of radical surgical resection of the tumor and systemic multi-agent chemotherapy. However, long-term survival remains poor, so novel targeted therapies to improve outcomes for patients with osteosarcoma remains an area of active research. This includes immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, or treatment with nanoparticles. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a highly reactive (partially) ionized physical state, has been shown to inherit a significant anticancer capacity, leading to a new field in medicine called “plasma oncology.” The current article summarizes the potential of CAP in the treatment of human OS and reviews the underlying molecular mode of action.

Cold Plasma-Treated Ringer’s Saline: A Weapon to Target Osteosarcoma

“…From another point of view, up to now, cytotoxicity of CAPs or plasma-activated media in OS cell lines have been investigated only in adherent cell cultures [22,23,[29][30][31]36,37]. This kind of in vitro models provides limited clinically relevant information.…”

Gas Plasma-Treated Prostate Cancer Cells Augment Myeloid Cell Activity and Cytotoxicity

“…Medical gas plasma technology recently gained attention due to its antitumor activity against many types of cancers [4][5][6]. Specifically, plasma was shown to inactivate, for instance, malignant melanoma [7], squamous cell carcinoma [5,8], lung cancer [9], colon cancer [10], pancreatic cancer [11], osteosarcoma [12], glioblastoma [13], and hepatocellular carcinoma [14]. The technology uses electrical discharge to partially ionize a neutral gas, and is designed in a way that it promotes biomedical effects in cells and tissues without thermal harm [15].…”

Plasma medical oncology: Immunological interpretation of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

“…Argon was excited within the active plasma zone in the head of the kINPen, and excited argon species were subsequently driven out to the ambient air where they reacted with oxygen and nitrogen to form ROS and RNS. [ 67 ] One cycle of therapy lasted 1 week that included three individual single‐gas plasma applications, followed by 1 week without plasma therapy. For one single‐gas plasma application, the area of the ulcerated tumor was repeatedly exposed to the visible tip of plasma effluent for approximately 1 min/cm 2 .…”