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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    In vitro studies of polyhedral oligo silsesquioxanes: Evidence for their low cytotoxicity
    (Basel : MDPI, 2015) Janaszewska, Anna; Gradzinska, Kinga; Marcinkowska, Monika; Klajnert-Maculewicz, Barbara; Stanczyk, Wlodzimierz A.
    As scientific literature considers polyhedral oligosilsesquioxanes (POSS) as potential drug delivery systems, it is necessary to check their impact on mammalian cells. Toxicity of octaammonium chloride salt of octaaminopropyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (oap-POSS) towards two cell lines: mouse neuroblastoma (N2a) and embryonic mouse hippocampal cells (mHippoE-18) was studied. Experiments consisted of analysis of a cell cycle, cell viability, amount of apoptotic and necrotic cells, and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). POSS caused a shift in the cell population from the S and M/G2 phases to the G0/G1 phase. However, the changes affected less than 10% of the cell population and were not accompanied by increased cytotoxicity. POSS did not induce either apoptosis or necrosis and did not generate reactive oxygen species. A cytotoxicity profile of POSS makes it a promising starting material as drug carrier.
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    Lack of Adverse Effects of Cold Physical Plasma-Treated Blood from Leukemia Patients: A Proof-of-Concept Study
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Golpour, Monireh; Alimohammadi, Mina; Mohseni, Alireza; Zaboli, Ehsan; Sohbatzadeh, Farshad; Bekeschus, Sander; Rafiei, Alireza
    Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common blood malignancy with multiple therapeutic challenges. Cold physical plasma has been considered a promising approach in cancer therapy in recent years. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of cold plasma or plasma-treated solutions (PTS) on hematologic parameters in the whole blood of CLL patients. The mean red blood cell count, white blood cell (WBC) count, platelet and hemoglobin counts, and peripheral blood smear images did not significantly differ between treated and untreated samples in either CLL or healthy individuals. However, both direct plasma and indirect PTS treatment increased lipid peroxidation and RNS deposition in the whole blood of CLL patients and in healthy subjects. In addition, the metabolic activity of WBCs was decreased with 120 s of cold plasma or PTS treatment after 24 h and 48 h. However, cold plasma and PTS treatment did not affect the prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, nor hemolysis in either CLL patients or in healthy individuals. The present study identifies the components of cold plasma to reach the blood without disturbing the basic parameters important in hematology, confirming the idea that the effect of cold plasma may not be limited to solid tumors and possibly extends to hematological disorders. Further cellular and molecular studies are needed to determine which cells in CLL patients are targeted by cold plasma or PTS.
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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.
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    Ex Vivo Exposure of Human Melanoma Tissue to Cold Physical Plasma Elicits Apoptosis and Modulates Inflammation
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Bekeschus, Sander; Moritz, Juliane; Helfrich, Iris; Boeckmann, Lars; Weltmann, Klaus-Dieter; Emmert, Steffen; Metelmann, Hans-Robert; Stoffels, Ingo; von Woedtke, Thomas
    Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer with a not-sufficient clinical outcome. High tumor mutation rates often hamper a remedial treatment, creating the need for palliative care in many patients. To reduce pain and burden, local palliation often includes cryo-ablation, immunotherapy via injection of IL2, or electrochemotherapy. Yet, a fraction of patients and lesions do not respond to those therapies. To reach even these resistances in a redox-mediated way, we treated skin biopsies from human melanoma ex vivo with cold physical plasma (kINPen MED plasma jet). This partially ionized gas generates a potent mixture of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Physical plasmas have been shown to be potent antitumor agents in preclinical melanoma and clinical head and neck cancer research. The innovation of this technology lies in its ease-of-use without anesthesia, as the “cold” plasma temperature of the kINPen MED does not exceed 37 °C. In metastatic melanoma skin biopsies from six patients, we identified a marked increase of apoptosis with plasma treatment ex vivo. This had an impact on the chemokine/cytokine profile of the cultured biopsies, e.g., three of six patient-derived biopsy supernatants showed an apparent decrease in VEGF compared to non-plasma treated specimens. Moreover, the baseline release levels of 24 chemokines/cytokines investigated may serve as a useful tool for future research on melanoma skin biopsy treatments. Our findings suggest a clinically useful role of cold physical plasma therapy in palliation of cutaneous melanoma lesions, possibly in a combinatory setting with other immune therapies.
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    Uv absorption spectroscopy for the diffusion of plasma-generated reactive species through a skin model
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Ki, Se Hoon; Masur, Kai; Baik, Ku Youn; Choi, Eun Ha
    Skin applications of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma (NTAPP) have been at-tracting attention from medical and cosmetic aspects. The reactive species generated from plasma sources have been known to play important roles in the skin. For proper applications, it is essential to know how they diffuse into the skin. In this study, the penetration of active species from NTAPP through a skin model was analyzed by UV absorption spectroscopy. The diffusions of hydrogen peroxide, nitrite, and nitrate were quantified through curve fitting. We utilized an agarose gel to mimic epidermis and dermis layers, and we used a lipid film or a pig skin sample to mimic the stratum corneum (SC). The diffusion characteristics of reactive species through this skin model and the limitations of this method were discussed.