Killing malignant melanoma cells with protoporphyrin IX-loaded polymersome-mediated photodynamic therapy and cold atmospheric plasma

Abstract

Traditional cancer treatments contain several limitations such as incomplete ablation and multidrug resistance. It is known that photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective treatment for several tumor types especially melanoma cells. During the PDT process, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), an effective photosensitizer, can selectively kill cancer cells by activating a special light source. When tumor cells encapsulate a photosensitizer, they can be easily excited into an excited state by a light source. In this study, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) was used as a novel light source. Results of some studies have showed that cancer cells can be effectively killed by using either a light source or an individual treatment due to the generation of reactive oxygen species and electrons from a wide range of wavelengths, which suggest that CAP can act as a potential light source for anticancer applications compared with UV light sources. Results of the present in vitro study indicated for the first time that PpIX can be successfully loaded into polymersomes. Most importantly, cell viability studies revealed that PpIX-loaded polymersomes had a low toxicity to healthy fibroblasts (20% were killed) at a concentration of 400 µg/mL, but they showed a great potential to selectively kill melanoma cells (almost 50% were killed). With the application of CAP posttreatment, melanoma cell viability significantly decreased (80% were killed) compared to not using a light source (45% were killed) or using a UV light source (65% were killed). In summary, these results indicated for the first time that PpIX-loaded polymersomes together with CAP posttreatment could be a promising tool for skin cancer drug delivery with selective toxicity toward melanoma cells sparing healthy fibroblasts.

Vascular and extracellular matrix remodeling by physical approaches to improve drug delivery at the tumor site

“…Finally, it is curious and interesting to note that cold atmospheric plasma has been employed together with nanotherapeutics (protoporphyrin IX-loaded polymersomes) as an alternative light source in order to kill melanoma cells by photodynamic therapy [188].…”

Role of Short- and Long-Lived Reactive Species on the Selectivity and Anti-Cancer Action of Plasma Treatment In Vitro

“…This includes brain cancer, skin cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, leukemia, hepatoma, head and neck cancer, as well as osteosarcoma [5][6][7][8]. Moreover, CAP treatment can be combined with chemotherapy [9][10][11][12], nanoparticles [13][14][15][16][17], hyperthermia [18], radiotherapy [18,19], photodynamic therapy [20,21], and magnetic field [22]. Several clinical studies reported the use of CAP for treatment of (pre-) cancerous tissues [23] and two clinical trials using CAP are currently undergoing treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03218436) and Canady Helios cold plasma scalpel treatment at the surgical margin and macroscopic tumor sites (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04267575).…”

Recent Advances in Nanoparticle-Based Cancer Drug and Gene Delivery

“…They demonstrated that cancer cells can be effectively killed by using a CAP light source with a wide range of wavelengths, compared with UV light sources. After CAP irradiation, melanoma cell killing efficiency significantly increased to 80% when compared with no light source (45%) or a UV light source (65%) (Wang, Geilich, Keidar, & Webster, 2017). …”