Pyruvate Plays a Main Role in the Antitumoral Selectivity of Cold Atmospheric Plasma in Osteosarcoma

Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 23;9(1):10681. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-47128-1.

Abstract

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone tumor but current therapies still have poor prognosis. Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) and Plasma activated media (PAM) have shown potential to eliminate cancer cells in other tumors. It is thought that Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen species (RONS) in PAM are key players but cell culture media composition alters treatment outcomes and data interpretation due to scavenging of certain RONS. In this work, an atmospheric pressure plasma jet was employed to obtain PAM in the presence or absence of pyruvate and used to treat the SaOS-2 (OS) cell line or hBM-MSC healthy cells. OS cells show higher sensitivity to PAM treatment than healthy cells, both in medium with and without pyruvate, activating apoptosis, DNA damage and deregulating cellular pathways mediated by c-JUN, AKT, AMPK or STAT3. In line with previous works, lack of pyruvate increases cytotoxic potential of PAM affecting cancer and healthy cells by increasing 10-100 times the concentration of H2O2 without altering that of nitrites and thus decreasing CAP anti-tumor selectivity. Suitable conditions for CAP anti-cancer selectivity can be obtained by modifying plasma process parameters (distance, flow, treatment time) to obtain adequate balance of the different RONS in cell culture media.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Apoptosis / physiology*
  • Bone Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Bone Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • DNA Damage / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Osteosarcoma / metabolism*
  • Osteosarcoma / pathology
  • Plasma Gases / pharmacology*
  • Pyruvic Acid / metabolism*
  • Reactive Nitrogen Species / metabolism
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Plasma Gases
  • Reactive Nitrogen Species
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Pyruvic Acid