The effect of cold atmospheric plasma treatment on cancer stem cells

Intratumoral heterogeneity challenges existing paradigms for anticancer therapy. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that the model of cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the model of clonal evolution mutually contribute to intratumoral heterogeneity, as CSCs themselves undergo clonal evolution. The limitation of conventional anticancer therapies may lead to treatment failure and cancer recurrence, mainly due to drug resistance and self-renewal capacities of CSC. These two factors are responsible for resistance to standard oncology treatments. In this study, we examine cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment of CSC in vitro. We demonstrate that two types of heterogeneous CSC populations derived from a single patient tumor are sensitive to the effects of plasma treatment. Surprisingly, the more aggressive CSC population (C13) was more sensitive to CAP treatment than the less aggressive type (C12).