Influence of COST-Jet produced Short-lived RONS on Cellular Responses

Non-thermal plasma (NTP) has been shown to be a promising technique for the treatment of cancer due to its ability to create a strong immunostimulatory response through the controlled delivery of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). However, NTP mechanisms to produce these effects are not yet fully elucidated.

This research used the COST-jet with three different gas admixtures tailored to have high effluent concentrations of ·NO (He + 0.2% O₂ + 0.8% N₂), ·OH (He + 2500 ppm H₂O), or O (He + 0.6% O₂). The relative aqueous concentrations of short-lived RONS were measured by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy in solutions with organic components to investigate their interaction with RONS. These experiments resulted in parameter selection (gas admixture and treatment time) for in vitro treatments that reflect high aqueous concentrations of 1) ·NO, 2) O, and 3) ·OH. In vitro experiments consisted of plasma treatment of pancreatic tumor cell cultures (KPC 4662) with the selected parameters from the EPR studies to compare the cells’ viability and released immunogenic cell death (ICD) markers. These studies will contribute to future plasma cancer treatment strategies by characterizing the effectiveness of different RONS abundance to treat cancer cells.