Direct cold atmospheric plasma and plasma‐activated medium effects on breast and cervix cancer cells

Abstract

In this study, the effects of cold plasma and plasma-activated medium (PAM) are investigated through different treatment times, different intervals between treatment and analysis, and synthesis of helium gas and helium + 0.5% oxygen. The viability of two cancer cell lines including Hela and MDA-MB-231, which are related to cervix and breast cancers, respectively, is investigated using the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay. To study the effect of plasma on normal cells, the corresponding method is used for examination of the normal human fibroblasts. H 2 O 2 showed a higher concentration after direct-plasma treatment than PAM treatment. Caspase 3, caspase 8, and Bax proteins and the relative Bax/Bcl-2 ratio are compared in both the direct-plasma and PAM methods. The results show that the expression level of apoptotic proteins caspase 3 and caspase 8 in direct-plasma treatment is higher than that in PAM treatment, and the level of relative Bcl-2/Bax ratio is increased, demonstrating the induction of the apoptosis mechanism.

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

“…From a long-term perspective, such application of magnetic nanoparticles inside tissues can, however, be hazardous because of the absorption of nanoparticles into the intracellular environment, especially in the case of lymphatic tissues of the intestine, which lead to the generation of the oxidative stress, cell destruction, and genotoxicity [ 9 ]. A remedy to this drawback could be the utilization of cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPPs), those being a new, very promising and effective treatment modality in breast cancer therapy [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”

“…Because hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), nitric oxide (NO), nitrate (NO 3 − ), nitrite (NO 2 − ), ammonia (NH 4 + ) ions, hydroxyl (OH • ), and hydrogen (H • ) radicals are produced during the CAPP operation with water or cell culture media [ 10 , 23 ], the CAPP-based approach is used in a wide range of applications such as wound healing [ 24 ], inactivation of parasites and foreign organisms [ 25 ], dentistry [ 26 ], seed germination [ 27 ], nanoparticles synthesis [ 28 ], blood coagulation [ 29 ], and so on. Concerning breast cancer therapy, several reaction-discharge systems have been developed and studied, including dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) [ 10 , 16 , 18 ], and radio-frequency discharge [ 22 ]. CAPP sources applied in these systems have been used for the direct [ 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ] or indirect [ 12 , 14 , 15 , 20 ] treatment of cell lines.…”

“…Concerning breast cancer therapy, several reaction-discharge systems have been developed and studied, including dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) [ 10 , 16 , 18 ], and radio-frequency discharge [ 22 ]. CAPP sources applied in these systems have been used for the direct [ 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ] or indirect [ 12 , 14 , 15 , 20 ] treatment of cell lines. In the first case, selected cell lines, i.e., MDA-MB-231 [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 20 , 22 ], MCF-7 [ 10 , 13 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 21 ], SKBR3 [ 15 ], AMN3 [ 21 ], AMJ13 [ 19 , 21 ], and MCF10A [ 11 , 18 ], were directly treated by proper CAPP sources for specific times.…”

The Effect of Plasma Activated Medium and PBS on Human Melanoma Cells Compared With Other Cancer and Normal Cells

“…A significantly higher caspase 3/7 activity was detected after PAM or PAPBS application. An increased expression of caspase 3 and 8 after PAM and direct plasma treatment of HeLa cells was also observed in [38] and an expression of caspases 3, 7 and 9 after PAM treatment was shown in ovarian cancer cells [29]. Low H2O2 concentration leads to the caspase-dependent apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential change [44].…”

“…This indicates a certain level of the desired selectivity of PAL application to cancer cells, although in some of the studies, viability decrease was observed also in healthy cells. Different types of human fibroblasts were used in studies and it was shown that the treatment with PAM was better tolerated than the direct plasma treatment [38]. PAM activated by He plasma jet decreased the Nuff fibroblasts viability by 20% [39] and 3T3 fibroblasts, if PAM was activated for more than 30 seconds [40].…”