The Influence of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma-Treated Media on the Cell Viability, Motility, and Induction of Apoptosis in Human Non-Metastatic (MCF7) and Metastatic (MDA-MB-231) Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Breast cancer remains the most common type of cancer, occurring in middle-aged women, and often leads to patients’ death. In this work, we applied a cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP)-based reaction-discharge system, one that is unique in its class, for the production of CAPP-activated media (DMEM and Opti-MEM); it is intended for further uses in breast cancer treatment. To reach this aim, different volumes of DMEM or Opti-MEM were treated by CAPP. Prepared media were exposed to the CAPP treatment at seven different time intervals and examined in respect of their impact on cell viability and motility, and the induction of the apoptosis in human non-metastatic (MCF7) and metastatic (MDA-MB-231) breast cancer cell lines. As a control, the influence of CAPP-activated media on the viability and motility, and the type of the cell death of the non-cancerous human normal MCF10A cell line, was estimated. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative analyses of the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), generated during the CAPP operation in contact with analyzed media, were performed. Based on the conducted research, it was found that 180 s (media activation time by CAPP) should be considered as the minimal toxic dose, which significantly decreases the cell viability and the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells, and also disturbs life processes of MCF7 cells. Finally, CAPP-activated media led to the apoptosis of analyzed cell lines, especially of the metastatic MDA-MB-231 cell line. Therefore, the application of the CAPP system may be potentially applied as a therapeutic strategy for the management of highly metastatic human breast cancer.

Evaluation of cold atmospheric-pressure plasma against burn wound infections and gene silencing

“…According to the species of bacteria, the response to CAPP is different and actually, it's a species-dependent process and the Gram-positive bacteria is usually more susceptible to CAPs treatment because of the difference cell-wall components, which indicates that the CAPP-induced damage to the cell membrane and cell wall may be a key factor of antibacterial effect (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Bacteria cause more than 60% of infection while they become more resistant to antimicrobial drugs every day, and often develop into a chronic state (8,18).…”

“…Researches show that CAPP can increase their proliferation and distribution. And also, cold atmospheric pressure plasma can induce angiogenesis too (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

“…With the certification of several CAP products, more standards and procedures for clinical treatments should be cleared in the future to guide the plasma treatment effectively and safely. The Real-time-RT-PCR technique has been used extensively for gene expression analysis (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

Plasma Biology

“…The solutions treated with plasma are referred to as “plasma-activated medium (PAM)” [ 3 ], plasma-treated medium (PTM)” [ 4 ], “plasma-activated liquid (PAL)” [ 5 ], or “plasma-treated liquid (PTL)” [ 6 ]. These solutions contain reactive chemical species with a short half-life (e.g., reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS)) that can act as disinfectants [ 2 ] or anticancer agents [ 2 ].…”

“…Terefinko et al [ 4 ] demonstrated PTM, produced by a cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP)-based reaction-discharge system, induces apoptosis in cancer cells, especially metastatic cells.…”