Cold Atmospheric Plasma as a Novel Tool for Cancer Treatment

Cold atmospheric plasmas (CAPs) have attracted rapid interests in many medical applications. With the advantage of avoiding costly vacuum equipment and elevated temperatures, such a novel plasma device enables us to explore the possibility of biological tissue treatment. The main objective of this study is to investigate the physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms underlying the interaction of CAPs with living tissues. A new CAP source operating based on a dielectric barrier discharge in nitrogen gas has been developed in our laboratory. The CAP source has effectively induced DNA double-strand breaks in SCC25 oral cancer cells, but interestingly not in OKF oral normal cells. The cell damage was determined using an immunofluorescence assay to identify and quantify cells with DNA damage, and was visualized as a 3D map in terms of spatial distribution. Optical emission spectrophotometer was used to characterize plasma excited species, which play important roles in inducing damage. Our current focus is on the influence of incubation time of cancer cells after plasma treatment. The outcome of this study will provide essential information for applying plasmas as an alternative therapy method for cancer treatment.