Cold Plasma Discharge Tube Enhances Anti-Tumoral Efficacy of Temozolomide

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a fatal human brain tumor with a low survival rate. Temozolomide (TMZ) has been widely used in GBM therapy with noticeable side effects. Cold plasma is an ionized gas with a near-room-temperature. Here, we demonstrated the enhancement therapeutic efficacy of TMZ via using a novel cold plasma source based on non-equilibrium plasma in a sealed glass tube, named radial cold Plasma Discharge Tube (PDT). PDT affected glioblastoma cells’ function just by its electromagnetic (EM) emission rather than any chemical factors in plasma. PDT selectively increased the cytotoxicity of TMZ on two typical glioblastoma cell lines U87MG and A172 compared with normal astrocyte cell line hTERT/E6/E7. Furthermore, based on a patient-derived xenograft model, our preliminary in vivo studies demonstrated the drastically improved mean survival days of the tumor-barrier mice by more than 100% compared to control. PDT is not only independent of continuous Helium supply but also capable of resisting the interference of environmental changes. Thus, PDT was a table and low-cost cold atmospheric plasma source. In short, this study first demonstrated the promising application of PDT in GBM therapy as a non-invasive and portable modality.