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    Oral SARS-CoV-2 reduction by local treatment: A plasma technology application?
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2022) von Woedtke, Thomas; Gabriel, Gülsah; Schaible, Ulrich E.; Bekeschus, Sander
    The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reemphasized the importance of and need for efficient hygiene and disinfection measures. The coronavirus' efficient spread capitalizes on its airborne transmission routes via virus aerosol release from human oral and nasopharyngeal cavities. Besides the upper respiratory tract, efficient viral replication has been described in the epithelium of these two body cavities. To this end, the idea emerged to employ plasma technology to locally reduce mucosal viral loads as an additional measure to reduce patient infectivity. We here outline conceptual ideas of such treatment concepts within what is known in the antiviral actions of plasma treatment so far.
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    Gas Plasma Protein Oxidation Increases Immunogenicity and Human Antigen-Presenting Cell Maturation and Activation
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Clemen, Ramona; Arlt, Kevin; von Woedtke, Thomas; Bekeschus, Sander
    Protein vaccines rely on eliciting immune responses. Inflammation is a prerequisite for immune responses to control infection and cancer but is also associated with disease onset. Reactive oxygen species (ROSs) are central during inflammation and are capable of inducing non-enzymatic oxidative protein modifications (oxMods) associated with chronic disease, which alter the functionality or immunogenicity of proteins that are relevant in cancer immunotherapy. Specifically, antigen-presenting cells (APCs) take up and degrade extracellular native and oxidized proteins to induce adaptive immune responses. However, it is less clear how oxMods alter the protein’s immunogenicity, especially in inflammation-related short-lived reactive species. Gas plasma technology simultaneously generates a multitude of ROSs to modify protein antigens in a targeted and controlled manner to study the immunogenicity of oxMods. As model proteins relevant to chronic inflammation and cancer, we used gas plasma-treated insulin and CXCL8. We added those native or oxidized proteins to human THP-1 monocytes or primary monocyte-derived cells (moDCs). Both oxidized proteins caused concentration-independent maturation phenotype alterations in moDCs and THP-1 cells concerning surface marker expression and chemokine and cytokine secretion profiles. Interestingly, concentration-matched H2O2-treated proteins did not recapitulate the effects of gas plasma, suggesting sufficiently short diffusion distances for the short-lived reactive species to modify proteins. Our data provide evidence of dendric cell maturation and activation upon exposure to gas plasma- but not H2O2-modified model proteins. The biological consequences of these findings need to be elucidated in future inflammation and cancer disease models.
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    Hyperspectral Imaging of Wounds Reveals Augmented Tissue Oxygenation following Cold Physical Plasma Treatment in Vivo
    (New York, NY : IEEE, 2021) Schmidt, Anke; Niesner, Felix; von Woedtke, Thomas; Bekeschus, Sander
    Efficient vascularization of skin tissue supports wound healing in response to injury. This includes elevated blood circulation, tissue oxygenation, and perfusion. Cold physical plasma promotes wound healing in animal models and humans. Physical plasmas are multicomponent systems that generate several physicochemical effectors, such as ions, electrons, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and UV radiation. However, the consequences of plasma treatment on wound oxygenation and perfusion, vital processes to promote tissue regeneration, are largely unexplored. We used a novel hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system and a murine dermal full-thickness wound model in combination with kINPen argon plasma jet treatment to address this question. Plasma treatment promoted tissue oxygenation in superficial as well as deep (6 mm) layers of wound tissue. In addition to perfusion changes, we found a wound healing stage-dependent shift of tissue hemoglobin and tissue water index during reactive species-driven wound healing. Contactless, fast monitoring of medical parameters in real-time using HSI revealed a plasma-supporting effect in wound healing together with precise information about biological surface-specific features.