Cold Atmospheric Plasma Induces HMGB1 Expression in Cancer Cells

BACKGROUND/AIM: Plasma medicine is a new field that provides great potential for the treatment of human diseases including cancer in addition to sterilizing the surface of skin and facilitating wound healing. Recently, non-thermal atmospheric plasma (or cold atmospheric plasma, CAP) was introduced, not only for denaturing cells and tissues, but also for operating under the threshold of thermal damage and for chemically inducing a specific response or modification. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Microwave-mediated CAP was used in this study. RESULTS: CAP increased high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) expression, thereby increasing HMGB-1 secretion. In addition, we observed that the calreticulin (CRT) protein was concentrated at the cellular membrane when plasma was treated, representing immunogenic cell death. CONCLUSION: Overall, plasma treatment induces apoptosis via immunogenic cell death in cancer cells, implying a potential application to human cancer therapy and for the treatment of other human diseases.