Opposite effects of non-thermal plasma on cell migration and collagen production in keloid and normal fibroblasts

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 16;12(11):e0187978. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187978. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Recent progress in the understanding non-thermal plasma (NTP) properties prompted its application in the treatment of various diseases. However, therapeutic effect of NTP on keloid cells has not been reported previously. We sought to investigate the effect of NTP treatment on keloid by comparing cell migration and collagen production of keloid (KFs) and normal fibroblasts (NFs) and determined the regulatory pathways involved. We assessed NTP effects on cell migration in KFs and NFs by the wound healing assay and measured the expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), and collagen by western blot. Expression of the transforming growth factor-β and Type I collagen following NTP treatment was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescence staining, and the Sircol collagen assay. NTP treatment increased cell migration and collagen production of NFs. However, it reduced these parameters in KFs. NTP reduced the expression of EGFR, STAT3, and Type I collagen in KFs but increased their levels in NFs. We revealed that NTP suppressed KF cell migration via down-regulation of EGFR and STAT3 and reduced collagen production via supressing transforming growth factor-β. Our data suggest that NTP may be a new therapeutic strategy for keloids.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cell Movement*
  • Collagen / biosynthesis*
  • Female
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Keloid / metabolism*
  • Keloid / pathology
  • Male
  • Plasma Gases*
  • Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Plasma Gases
  • Proteins
  • Collagen

Grants and funding

The funder (ICO co.) provided support in the form of salaries for authors JBR and YL, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. This study was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant no. 2015R1A2A1A01002968) to CHK, the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program (grant no. 2012M3A9B2052870) to CHK, and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (grant no. 2016R1D1A3B03933948) to YSK. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.