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    Plasma treatment limits human melanoma spheroid growth and metastasis independent of the ambient gas composition
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2020) Hasse, Sybille; Meder, Tita; Freund, Eric; Woedtke, Thomas von; Bekeschus, Sander
    Melanoma skin cancer is still a deadly disease despite recent advances in therapy. Previous studies have suggested medical plasma technology as a promising modality for melanoma treatment. However, the efficacy of plasmas operated under different ambient air conditions and the comparison of direct and indirect plasma treatments are mostly unexplored for this tumor entity. Moreover, exactly how plasma treatment affects melanoma metastasis has still not been explained. Using 3D tumor spheroid models and high-content imaging technology, we addressed these questions by utilizing one metastatic and one non-metastatic human melanoma cell line targeted with an argon plasma jet. Plasma treatment was toxic in both cell lines. Modulating the oxygen and nitrogen ambient air composition (100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75, and 0/100) gave similar toxicity and reduced the spheroid growth for all conditions. This was the case for both direct and indirect treatments, with the former showing a treatment time-dependent response while the latter resulted in cytotoxicity with the longest treatment time investigated. Live-cell imaging of in-gel cultured spheroids indicated that plasma treatment did not enhance metastasis, and flow cytometry showed a significant modulation of S100A4 but not in any of the five other metastasis-related markers (β-catenin, E-cadherin, LEF1, SLUG, and ZEB1) investigated. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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    Combination of Gas Plasma and Radiotherapy Has Immunostimulatory Potential and Additive Toxicity in Murine Melanoma Cells In Vitro
    (Basel : Molecular Diversity Preservation International, 2020) Pasqual-Melo, Gabriella; Sagwal, Sanjeev Kumar; Freund, Eric; Gandhirajan, Rajesh Kumar; Frey, Benjamin; von Woedtke, Thomas; Gaipl, Udo; Bekeschus, Sander
    Despite continuous advances in therapy, malignant melanoma is still among the deadliest types of cancer. At the same time, owing to its high plasticity and immunogenicity, melanoma is regarded as a model tumor entity when testing new treatment approaches. Cold physical plasma is a novel anticancer tool that utilizes a plethora of reactive oxygen species (ROS) being deposited on the target cells and tissues. To test whether plasma treatment would enhance the toxicity of an established antitumor therapy, ionizing radiation, we combined both physical treatment modalities targeting B16F10 murine melanoma cell in vitro. Repeated rather than single radiotherapy, in combination with gas plasma-introduced ROS, induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in an additive fashion. In tendency, gas plasma treatment sensitized the cells to subsequent radiotherapy rather than the other way around. This was concomitant with increased levels of TNFa, IL6, and GM-CSF in supernatants. Murine JAWS dendritic cells cultured in these supernatants showed an increased expression of cell surface activation markers, such as MHCII and CD83. For PD-L1 and PD-L2, increased expression was observed. Our results are the first to suggest an additive therapeutic effect of gas plasma and radiotherapy, and translational tumor models are needed to develop this concept further. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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    Risk assessment of kINPen plasma treatment of four human pancreatic cancer cell lines with respect to metastasis
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2019) Bekeschus, Sander; Freund, Eric; Spadola, Chiara; Privat-Maldonado, Angela; Hackbarth, Christine; Bogaerts, Annemie; Schmidt, Anke; Wende, Kristian; Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter; Woedtke, Thomas von; Heidecke, Claus-Dieter; Partecke, Lars-Ivo; Käding, André
    Cold physical plasma has limited tumor growth in many preclinical models and is, therefore, suggested as a putative therapeutic option against cancer. Yet, studies investigating the cells’ metastatic behavior following plasma treatment are scarce, although being of prime importance to evaluate the safety of this technology. Therefore, we investigated four human pancreatic cancer cell lines for their metastatic behavior in vitro and in chicken embryos (in ovo). Pancreatic cancer was chosen as it is particularly metastatic to the peritoneum and systemically, which is most predictive for outcome. In vitro, treatment with the kINPen plasma jet reduced pancreatic cancer cell activity and viability, along with unchanged or decreased motility. Additionally, the expression of adhesion markers relevant for metastasis was down-regulated, except for increased CD49d. Analysis of 3D tumor spheroid outgrowth showed a lack of plasma-spurred metastatic behavior. Finally, analysis of tumor tissue grown on chicken embryos validated the absence of an increase of metabolically active cells physically or chemically detached with plasma treatment. We conclude that plasma treatment is a safe and promising therapeutic option and that it does not promote metastatic behavior in pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in ovo. © 2019 by the authors.
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    Antitumor Effects in Gas Plasma-Treated Patient-Derived Microtissues—An Adjuvant Therapy for Ulcerating Breast Cancer?
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Akbari, Zahra; Saadati, Fariba; Mahdikia, Hamed; Freund, Eric; Abbasvandi, Fereshteh; Shokri, Babak; Zali, Hakimeh; Bekeschus, Sander
    Despite global research and continuous improvement in therapy, cancer remains a challenging disease globally, substantiating the need for new treatment avenues. Medical gas plasma technology has emerged as a promising approach in oncology in the last years. Several investigations have provided evidence of an antitumor action in vitro and in vivo, including our recent work on plasma-mediated reduction of breast cancer in mice. However, studies of gas plasma exposure on patient-derived tumors with their distinct microenvironment (TME) are scarce. To this end, we here investigated patient-derived breast cancer tissue after gas plasma-treated ex vivo. The tissues were disjoint to pieces smaller than 100 µm, embedded in collagen, and incubated for several days. The viability of the breast cancer tissue clusters and their outgrowth into their gel microenvironment declined with plasma treatment. This was associated with caspase 3-dependent apoptotic cell death, paralleled by an increased expression of the anti-metastatic adhesion molecule epithelial (E)-cadherin. Multiplex chemokine/cytokine analysis revealed a marked decline in the release of the interleukins 6 and 8 (IL-6, IL-8) and monocyte-chemoattractant-protein 1 (MCP) known to promote a cancer-promoting milieu in the TME. In summary, we provide here, for the first time, evidence of a beneficial activity of gas plasma exposure on human patient-derived breast cancer tissue.