The Biophysics of Cold Plasmas in Cancer Therapy

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Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas initiate highly reactive chemistry at room temperature, able to influence sensitive biological systems. For example, findings of plasma-initiated tumor regression show the potential of cold plasmas in cancer care. Until now, the various interaction processes of plasma with living organisms are very poorly to not at all understood. The aim of this proposed program, BioCaT, is to reveal and tailor the effect of plasma reactivity by using biophysical and polymeric model systems as model systems for living tissue. With a novel physics-based approach, BioCaT will for the first time tailor the plasma reactivity in plasma-bio-interaction. Motivation for our approach are recent redox biology studies that show the importance of metastable singlet oxygen 1O2 in selective cancer cell death: Singlet oxygen inactivates cell membrane-associated enzymes, leading to avalanche-like processes that result in cell death. 1O2 is a key component of cold plasmas in air. BioCaT will reveal the fundamental kinetic processes in plasma-liquid-systems to control the composition of constituent reactive species: Current empirical plasma application needs to be replaced by knowledge-based, targeted plasma reactivity. With new diagnostic concepts, density gradients of reactive species in space and time will be determined in gas-, plasma- and liquid-phases. Applying quantitative single-shot techniques to turbulent reactive flow of cold plasmas will, for the first time, allow one to identify transient reaction kinetics. The reaction kinetics model-based approach will be adapted so as to specifically influence those physical parameters that lead to generation and transport of 1O2, to the liquid interface that mediates the plasma effect. For the first time, the effect of plasma on enzyme activity will be studied on hand of enzymes that will be spatially immobilized by a polymer matrix or by liposome cell models. This will allow us to understand the progression of plasma effects in living organisms, for example, how it affects human cells. With an interdisciplinary researcher team, BioCaT will thus build the knowledge-base required to tailor cold atmospheric pressure plasmas for selective cell treatment. The research results are anticipated to yield breakthroughs in plasma-medical research and to open the way for successful clinical use of cold atmospheric pressure plasmas.