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Despite continuous advances in therapy, malignant melanoma is still among the deadliest
types of cancer. At the same time, owing to its high plasticity and immunogenicity, melanoma is
regarded as a model tumor entity when testing new treatment approaches. Cold physical plasma is a
novel anticancer tool that utilizes a plethora of reactive oxygen species (ROS) being deposited on the
target cells and tissues. To test whether plasma treatment would enhance the toxicity of an established
antitumor therapy, ionizing radiation, we combined both physical treatment modalities targeting
B16F10 murine melanoma cell in vitro. Repeated rather than single radiotherapy, in combination
with gas plasma-introduced ROS, induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in an additive fashion. In
tendency, gas plasma treatment sensitized the cells to subsequent radiotherapy rather than the other
way around. This was concomitant with increased levels of TNFα, IL6, and GM-CSF in supernatants.
Murine JAWS dendritic cells cultured in these supernatants showed an increased expression of cell
surface activation markers, such as MHCII and CD83. For PD-L1 and PD-L2, increased expression
was observed. Our results are the first to suggest an additive therapeutic effect of gas plasma and
radiotherapy, and translational tumor models are needed to develop this concept further.
Medical gas plasmas are of emerging interest in pre-clinical oncological research. Similar to an array of first-line chemotherapeutics and physics-based therapies already approved for clinical application, plasmas target the tumor redox state by generating a variety of highly reactive species eligible for local tumor treatments. Considering internal tumors with limited accessibility, medical gas plasmas help to enrich liquids with stable, low-dose oxidants ideal for intratumoral injection and lavage. Pre-clinical investigation of such liquids in numerous tumor entities and models in vitro and in vivo provided evidence of their clinical relevance, broadening the range of patients that could benefit from medical gas plasma therapy in the future. Likewise, the application of such liquids might be promising for recurrent BRAF(V600E) papillary thyroid carcinomas, resistant to adjuvant administration of radioiodine. From a redox biology point of view, studying redox-based approaches in thyroid carcinomas is particularly interesting, as they evolve in a highly oxidative environment requiring the capability to cope with large amounts of ROS/RNS. Knowledge on their behavior under different redox conditions is scarce. The present study aimed to clarify resistance, proliferative activity, and the oxidative stress response of human papillary thyroid cancer cells K1 after exposure to plasma-oxidized DMEM (oxDMEM). Cellular responses were also evaluated when treated with different dosages of hydrogen peroxide and the RNS donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Our findings outline plasma-oxidized liquids as a promising approach targeting BRAF(V600E) papillary thyroid carcinomas and extend current knowledge on the susceptibility of cells to undergo ROS/RNS-induced cell death.
Cold medical gas plasmas are under pre-clinical investigation concerning their hemostatic activity and could be applied for intra-operative bleeding control in the future. The technological leap innovation was their generation at body temperature, thereby causing no thermal harm to the tissue and ensuring tissue integrity. This directly contrasts with current techniques such as electrocautery, which induces hemostasis by carbonizing the tissue using a heated electrode. However, the necrotized tissue is prone to fall, raising the risk of post-operative complications such as secondary bleedings or infection. In recent years, various studies have reported on the ability of medical gas plasmas to induce blood coagulation, including several suggestions concerning their mode of action. As non-invasive and gentle hemostatic agents, medical gas plasmas could be particularly eligible for vulnerable tissues, e.g., colorectal surgery and neurosurgery. Further, their usage could be beneficial regarding the prevention of post-operative bleedings due to the absence or sloughing of eschar. However, no clinical trials or individual healing attempts for medical gas plasmas have been reported to pave the way for clinical approvement until now, despite promising results in experimental animal models. In this light, the present mini-review aims to emphasize the potential of medical gas plasmas to serve as a hemostatic agent in clinical procedures. Providing a detailed overview of the current state of knowledge, feasible application fields are discussed, and possible obstacles are addressed.
The requirements for new technologies to serve as anticancer agents go far beyond their toxicity potential. Novel applications also need to be safe on a molecular and patient level. In a broader sense, this also relates to cancer metastasis and inflammation. In a previous study, the toxicity of an atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet in four human pancreatic cancer cell lines was confirmed and plasma treatment did not promote metastasis in vitro and in ovo. Here, these results are extended by additional types of analysis and new models to validate and define on a molecular level the changes related to metastatic processes in pancreatic cancer cells following plasma treatment in vitro and in ovo. In solid tumors that were grown on the chorion-allantois membrane of fertilized chicken eggs (TUM-CAM), plasma treatment induced modest to profound apoptosis in the tissues. This, however, was not associated with a change in the expression levels of adhesion molecules, as shown using immunofluorescence of ultrathin tissue sections. Culturing of the cells detached from these solid tumors for 6d revealed a similar or smaller total growth area and expression of ZEB1, a transcription factor associated with cancer metastasis, in the plasma-treated pancreatic cancer tissues. Analysis of in vitro and in ovo supernatants of 13 different cytokines and chemokines revealed cell line-specific effects of the plasma treatment but a noticeable increase of, e.g., growth-promoting interleukin 10 was not observed. Moreover, markers of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a metastasis-promoting cellular program, were investigated. Plasma-treated pancreatic cancer cells did not present an EMT-profile. Finally, a realistic 3D tumor spheroid co-culture model with pancreatic stellate cells was employed, and the invasive properties in a gel-like cellular matrix were investigated. Tumor outgrowth and spread was similar or decreased in the plasma conditions. Altogether, these results provide valuable insights into the effect of plasma treatment on metastasis-related properties of cancer cells and did not suggest EMT-promoting effects of this novel cancer therapy.
Das fortgeschrittene, metastasierte Pankreaskarzinom stellt allen Fortschritten innerhalb der Onkologie zum Trotz weiterhin eine Diagnose mit infauster Prognose dar, deren palliative Therapiemöglichkeiten ebenfalls nicht zufriedenstellend sind. Seit einigen Jahren besteht die Hoffnung den vierten Aggregatzustand in Form von ‚nicht-thermischem Plasma' (NTP) in der modernen Tumortherapie einzusetzen. Dies beruht auf der Generierung zahlreicher reaktiver Sauerstoff- und Stickstoffspezies, die in der Balance aus Wachstum und Apoptose von Tumoren eine entscheidende Rolle einnehmen. In Zusammenschau aller im Rahmen dieser Arbeit erhobenen in vitro Ergebnisse und der hierzu einsehbaren Literatur lässt sich eine selektive, anti-tumoröse Wirkung von NTP festhalten, die sich in reduzierter Zellviabilität und -proliferation, sowie effektiver Apoptoseinduktion ohne Bildung von Nekrosen äußert. Diese Effekte werden vorrangig über im Medium gelöste reaktive Sauerstoff- und Stickstoffspezies vermittelt, sodass auch zellfreie, NTP-behandelte Flüssigkeit diese Wirkung erzielt. In einem syngenen Mausmodell einer Peritonealkarzinose des Pankreaskarzinoms konnten die antiproliferativen und proapototischen Effekte dieser indirekten NTP-Behandlung nachgestellt werden. Die repetitive intraperitoneale Applikation resultierte in einer signifikanten Reduktion der Tumoren hinsichtlich Anzahl, Größe und Gewicht. Dabei zeigte sich eine beachtliche effektive Eindringtiefe innerhalb der Tumorläsionen. Lokale oder systemische Nebenwirkungen konnten unter der Therapie nicht beobachtet werden, insbesondere wiesen die übrigen aufgearbeiteten intraperitonealen Gewebe keine makro- oder mikroskopisch sichtbaren Veränderungen auf und auch die Blutzusammensetzung zeigte sich unverändert gegenüber der Kontrollgruppe. In dieser Arbeit wurde zudem - nach Kenntnisstand des Autors - erstmals der Einfluss einer indirekten NTP-Behandlung auf das Überleben immunkompetenter, Tumor-tragender Mäuse untersucht und hierbei ein signifikanter Überlebensvorteil demonstriert.
Die präsentierte Arbeit stellt einen wichtigen Schritt in der Entwicklung neuer Therapieoptionen des metastasierten Pankreaskarzinoms dar, als dass die selektive in vitro Wirksamkeit von NTP nun auch in vivo in einem komplexen Organismus wie der immunkompetenten Maus nachgestellt werden konnte. Künftige Arbeiten zu den NTP-Regulationsmöglichkeiten durch Flüssigkeits- und Plasmamodifikationen werden mutmaßlich das vollständige Potential dieses neuartigen Therapieansatzes offenbaren.