Cold plasma selectivity and the possibility of a paradigm shift in cancer therapy

BACKGROUND: Plasma is an ionised gas that is typically generated in high-temperature laboratory conditions. However, recent progress in atmospheric plasmas has led to the creation of cold plasmas with ion temperature close to room temperature. METHODS: Both in-vitro and in-vivo studies revealed that cold plasmas selectively kill cancer cells. RESULTS: We show that: (a) cold plasma application selectively eradicates cancer cells in vitro without damaging normal cells; and (b) significantly reduces tumour size in vivo. It is shown that reactive oxygen species metabolism and oxidative stress responsive genes are deregulated. CONCLUSION: The development of cold plasma tumour ablation has the potential of shifting the current paradigm of cancer treatment and enabling the transformation of cancer treatment technologies by utilisation of another state of matter. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 105, 1295-1301. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.386 www.bjcancer.com Published online 6 October 2011 (C) 2011 Cancer Research UK