Differential Epigenetic Effects of Atmospheric Cold Plasma on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

Cold atmospheric plasma (plasma) has emerged as a novel tool for a cancer treatment option, having been successfully applied to a few types of cancer cells, as well as tissues. However, to date, no studies have been performed to examine the effect of plasma on epigenetic alterations, including CpG methylation. In this study, the effects of plasma on DNA methylation changes in breast cancer cells were examined by treating cultured MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, representing estrogen-positive and estrogen-negative cancer cells, respectively, with plasma. A pyrosequencing analysis of Alu indicated that a specific CpG site was induced to be hypomethylated from 23.4 to 20.3% (p < 0.05) by plasma treatment in the estrogen-negative MDA-MB-231 cells only. A genome-wide methylation analysis identified “cellular movement, connective tissue development and function, tissue development” and “cell-to-cell signaling and interaction, cell death and survival, cellular development” as the top networks. Of the two cell types, the MDA-MB-231 cells underwent a higher rate of apoptosis and a decreased proliferation rate upon plasma treatment. Taken together, these results indicate that plasma induces epigenetic and cellular changes in a cell type-specific manner, suggesting that a careful screening of target cells and tissues is necessary for the potential application of plasma as a cancer treatment option.

Quantitative assessment of cold atmospheric plasma anti‐cancer efficacy in triple‐negative breast cancers

“…Using MCF7 and MDAMB231 as the modeling cell lines, Sung‐Bin Park et al reported that MDAMB231 cells are more sensitive to PAM than MCF7 cells, which is consistent with our findings that TN breast cancer cells are more responsive to PAM and have unique treatment profiles. Currently, three hypotheses could be used to explain such a phenomena.…”

Selective effects of non-thermal atmospheric plasma on triple-negative breast normal and carcinoma cells through different cell signaling pathways

“…Results of current studies show that NTP can induce apoptosis in vitro in various cancer types, from lung cancer, glioblastoma, prostate cancer, melanoma and cervical cancer to breast cancer 12 – 17 . Previous studies suggest that RONS generated by NTP plays an important role in cell death.…”

Plasma-induced selectivity in bone cancer cells death

“…This discovery was reported in vitro and in vivo for different non-thermal plasmas, where studies were conducted on a variety of cancer types 6 including melanoma 7 , cervical cancer 8 , hepatocellular carcinoma, breast carcinoma 9 , papilloma, colon cancer, glioblastoma, etc. 6 .…”