The emerging role of cold atmospheric plasma in glioblastoma therapy

Abstract

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and lethal primary malignant brain tumor in adults. In spite of substantial progress in the understanding of gliomas biology, there has been only a slight change in the treatment of these types of tumors in the past few years. Moreover, chemotherapeutic strategies for GBM are accompanied by a lack of selectivity, serious side effects, and drug resistance. Recently, the emergence of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a quasi-neutral highly reactive (partially) ionized gas at close to room temperature, technology has heralded a new exciting era in cancer therapy. CAP generates a unique, rich environment of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, photons, charged ions, and an electric field, which makes it a promising robust tool for the treatment of different types of cancers. In this review, we present recent progress of CAP in the treatment of GBM. Most importantly, the combination of CAP-based therapeutic systems and other cancer therapies including chemotherapy and nanotherapy that offer great potential for GBM therapy is covered.

Recent advances in cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) for breast cancer therapy

“…There is a rising body of evidence indicating the selective anticancer behavior of CAP. The effective anticancer character, along with the natural selective property of CAP on cancerous cells, led to the advent of a new field in cancer therapy called “plasma oncology” (Weltmann Klaus et al, 2010; Zandsalimi et al, 2020). Some of the remarkable documents that recently studied the effect of CAP on various cancer types are listed in Table 2.…”

The potential of gas plasma technology for targeting breast cancer

“… 9 Accordingly, gas plasma technology is complementary to existing local physical treatment modalities that were shown to partially or fully rely on the generation of high ROS levels, such as photodynamic therapy, 10 radiotherapy, 11 electrochemotherapy 12 and hyperthermia. 13 Endogenously generated ROS and oxidative stress in the breast cancer tumour microenvironment (TME) have received increasing attention recently, 14 and multi‐species gas plasma ROS applications may redox modulate the TME potentially in favor of breast cancer therapy, which is the focus of this review, complementing previous summaries on the prospects of gas plasma treatment in, for example, melanoma, 15 glioblastoma, 16 osteosarcoma 17 and pancreatic 18 and head and neck cancer. 19 …”

Synergistic cytotoxicity from cold atmospheric plasma and ultrasound in glioma cells

“…Preclinical research shows its synergic effect with other treatment strategies, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and nanotherapy. [ 25,26 ]…”

“…Preclinical research shows its synergic effect with other treatment strategies, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and nanotherapy. [25,26] In this study, we propose the combination of two promising nonthermal technologies, US and CAP, making use of their sonoporation and reactive species production, respectively, to deliver a novel solution for GBM therapy.…”