Cold Atmospheric Plasma Applications in Cancer

Dear Colleagues,

We are familiar with solids, liquids and gasses, but above the atmosphere, plasma is the primary state of matter, and in recent years, a subtype of plasma that works at room temperature has gained much attention as a novel anti-cancer modality. Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) works at biocompatible temperatures allowing its application to living tissues or cell cultures. Using plasma devices, a gas phase is subjected to an electrical discharge to obtain CAP. Among the great variety of plasma devices, the anti-cancer effects of CAP are widely related to the induction of oxidative stress in dozens of tumor types in vitro and a few works report promising results in vivo, thus, CAP is composed of other components like photons, electrons, ions, and neutral radicals which include Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species (RONS), ultraviolet (UV), visible radiation and electromagnetic fields. In the last decade, Plasma Conditioned Liquids (PCLs) have been postulated as an interesting option to treat inner tumors, and in the same way that CAP, the cytotoxic effects able to eliminate cancer cells unaffecting healthy counterparts are poorly described. However, due to the divergent effect of oxidative stress in cancer biology, it is critical to determine whether the CAP or PCLs treatments have a real beneficial outcome for treating cancer patients in a relevant scenario of disease, this is an urgent need to intensify the research in the plasma oncology field.

In this Special Issue, the submitted works may include new molecular mechanisms for healthy or cancer cells, the potential use of CAP or PCLs to overcome drug resistance in cancer, or treatments directed against the tumor microenvironment using 2D or 3D models. Interestingly, the impact on tumor subpopulations such as Cancer Stem Cells are not defined yet. Finally, this issue will also cover original works or reviews describing the in vitro and in vivo anti-tumoral effects of plasma-based therapies. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Juan Tornin
Guest Editor

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• low temperature plasma
• redox therapy
• 3D models
• plasma conditioned liquids
• reactive species
• plasma oncology
• combinatory treatments
• drug resistance
• stem cell