Comparative study of cancer treatment potential effects of tumor-treating fields and cold atmospheric plasma

Abstract

Tumor-treating fields (TTFields) therapy is well known and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of adult patients who suffer with glioblastoma. The meth-od uses low-intensity and intermediate-frequency alternating electric fields to produce an inhibi-tory effect on cancerous cells. However, it involves 24 h of treatment time to produce anticancer effects. A new modality of cancer treatment called cold plasma therapy (CPT) has been shown both in vitro and in mice models to significantly treat dozens of cancer types. CPT is based on the therapeutic effect of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a type of ionized gas that operates at close to room temperature and provides electromagnetic radiation as well as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, both cytotoxic to cancer cells. With this study, after investigating the anticancer effects of TTFields and CAP on glioblastoma cells, we have found that CAP has superior ability to inhibit cancer.