Low Temperature Plasma Suppresses Proliferation, Invasion, Migration and Survival of SK-BR-3 Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract Low temperature plasma (LTP) is a developing field in recent years to play important roles of sterilization, material modification and wound healing. Breast cancer is a common gynecological malignant tumor. Recent studies have shown that LTP is a promising selective anti-cancer treatment, because some cancer cells are highly sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by LTP, but non-tumor cells are highly resistant to it, which indicates that the main effect of LTP is mediated through the generation of ROS. The effect of LTP on breast cancer is still unclear. In this study, We treated breast cancer cell lines with low temperature plasma for different periods of time and analyzed the relevant differences. we found that LTP was able to suppress cell vitality, proliferation, invasion and migration of SK-BR-3 cells. Also, SK-BR-3 apoptosis was induced by LTP in a time-dependent manner. These evidences suggest the negative effect of LTP on malignant development of SK-BR-3 cells, and LTP has the potential clinical application for breast cancer treatment.