Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CAP-CANCER (Cold atmospheric plasma treatment for effective cancer cell apoptosis)
Reporting period: 2016-09-01 to 2018-08-31
Biological Sample Treatment: This work and training was discussed from the beginning of the project but the majority of the training was carried over in the second year of CAP-CANCER. We started with cultivating the cells in the proper media. The cell cultures were seeded in 12 well plates, at a density of 100.000 cells/well and allowed to grow overnight, being maintained in a CO2 incubator (5% CO2, 37°C) prior to the experiments. In the experiments the cells were treated with pure Helium and Helium with 1000 ppm of O2 (He-O2) plasma jet for comparison. The electrical parameters where 6 kV square pulse with 50% duty cycle at 15 kHz repetition rate and the helium flow through the 4 mm (diameter) glass tube where the plasma is generated was 2.5 litres/min. For the He-O2 plasma, an additional 2.5 ml/min was added to the gas. The plasma treatment lasted between 60s to 240s of continual exposure. After the cells were treated, they were stored and the effects of the plasma were quantified at 8 and 24 hours using an annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide assay. Our experimental results showed that the plasma treatment is effective for the cancer lines and in the case of the MCF7 the experiments showed that there is an increase in the efficiency of the treatment with the addition of 1000 ppm (or 0.1%) of oxygen. This is consistent with the numerical results that showed the generation of higher electric fields and therefore an increase of electroporation, and therefore of apoptosis and destruction, for the cells.
Exploitation and dissemination: The results of the project were communicated through the webpage of the project. In addition to that, the fellow participated at events for both the scientific community and for the public. The fellow participated in the European Researchers Night in 2016 (at the beginning of the project) and 2018 (the end of the project). The results were also disseminated and the fellow had the chance to discuss them with other researchers at a total of six (6) international conferences/workshops including the 6th and 7th International Conference of Plasma Medicine and the 5th International Workshop on Plasma for Cancer Treatment. The results were also published in peer review journals (two of them are under review).