Possible therapeutic option of aqueous plasma for refractory ovarian cancer

Based on a number of recent reports, plasma exerts anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects on various cancer cells. Besides a direct effect on the cells, the proliferation of normal and tumorous mammalian cells was reported to be downregulated by indirect plasma-exposed medium through the generation of reactive oxidative species. We demonstrated that plasma-activated medium (PAM) also had an anti-tumor effect on even acquired chemoresistant OC cells. Furthermore, the aqueous plasma displayed an anti-tumor effect against clear-cell carcinoma, which is natively chemo-refractory OC, and we confirmed that the efficacy is selective for tumor cells rather than normal mesothelial cells. The adhesion potency to type-I-collagen-coated dishes was significantly lower in both chemosensitive and chemoresistant cells pretreated with PAM than that of non-stimulated cells (P<0.0001). In particular, the adhesion potential of acquired chemoresistant cells was more evident than that of the original chemosensitive cells. Taken together, PAM reduced not only the proliferative activity but also attachment to extracellular matrix components. Here, a possible application of this technologic modality as a therapeutic target for OC is proposed.