Principles of using Cold Atmospheric Plasma Stimulated Media for Cancer Treatment

Abstract

To date, the significant anti-cancer capacity of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on dozens of cancer cell lines has been demonstrated in vitro and in mice models. Conventionally, CAP was directly applied to irradiate cancer cells or tumor tissue. Over past three years, the CAP irradiated media was also found to kill cancer cells as effectively as the direct CAP treatment. As a novel strategy, using the CAP stimulated (CAPs) media has become a promising anti-cancer tool. In this study, we demonstrated several principles to optimize the anti-cancer capacity of the CAPs media on glioblastoma cells and breast cancer cells. Specifically, using larger wells on a multi-well plate, smaller gaps between the plasma source and the media, and smaller media volume enabled us to obtain a stronger anti-cancer CAPs media composition without increasing the treatment time. Furthermore, cysteine was the main target of effective reactive species in the CAPs media. Glioblastoma cells were more resistant to the CAPs media than breast cancer cells. Glioblastoma cells consumed the effective reactive species faster than breast cancer cells did. In contrast to nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide was more likely to be the effective reactive species.

Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells with the Canady Cold Plasma Conversion System: Preliminary Results

“…Thus, direct comparison of the cell viability cannot be made between 3 lpm and 1 lpm despite the same power setting and treatment time due to different beam length, well size, medium volume, and cell number between the two conditions. This was also reported repeatedly by other researchers worldwide [33,34]. This study intends to focus on the introduction of the Canady Cold Plasma Conversion System and its efficacy on the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer for both flowrates.…”

The Canady Helios Cold Plasma Scalpel Significantly Decreases Viability in Malignant Solid Tumor Cells in a Dose-Dependent Manner

“…While in several of the cell lines 1 L/min flow rate resulted in a lower viability at a lower dose, this cannot be directly compared with the 3 L/min results. This is because the treatment conditions, including well size, beam length, media volume, and cell number, are different between these two assays, and Yan et al demonstrated that those conditions can alter the effect of CAP on cell viability [17,20]. Xu et al have suggested a formula to compare plasma dose among treatment conditions within one cell type and this may be necessary to compare future results [40].…”

“…It has been reported that various cell lines react differently to CAP treatment [17][18][19][20]. Yan et al studied the reactive species consumption speed of glioblastoma U87 and breast cancers MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7, and discovered that the cancer cells that could absorb or eliminate the effective species in the media faster (glioblastoma) were more resistant to plasma-activated media than both breast cancers [17]. Their results also demonstrate a wide range of effects on cell viability depending on cell type and treatment time [20].…”

The Antitumor Effect of Singlet Oxygen

“…PAM has selective antitumor effects in vitro (72)(73)(74)(75)(76)(77)(78)(79)(80) and in vivo (73) even hours after treatment of medium with CAP. This stability over time excludes hydroxyl radicals, superoxide anions, singlet oxygen, peroxynitrite and peroxynitrous acid as possible mediators of the PAM effect on tumor cells and tumors, as these species are short-lived.…”