Selectivity of non-thermal atmospheric pressure microsecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge plasma induced apoptosis in malignant cells over normal cells

Initiation of apoptosis is an important issue in cancer treatment as cancer cells frequently have acquired the ability to block apoptosis and thus are more resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. The non-functioning of a tumor-suppressor gene that facilitates apoptosis, or the over expression of an anti-apoptotic protein are both important pathways in cancer development. Many anti cancer therapies are aimed at modulating these factors with various bioactive agents as well as radiation in an attempt to target components of the apoptotic pathway. However, many of these approaches remain in preclinical development due to either low efficacy or tumor drug resistance. Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma is being widely developed for various clinical applications ranging from wound healing to cancer therapy and may prove to be a novel clinical tool for cancer treatment.