The emerging role of cold atmospheric plasma in glioblastoma therapy

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.