Gas plasma medicine is a multidisciplinary field that emerged two decades ago as an innovative area combining physics, chemistry, engineering and life sciences. This emerging area combines gas plasma technology with clinical medicine and bioengineering with the aim of using cold atmospheric-pressure plasma in human and veterinary therapeutics for wound disinfection and healing, cancer treatment, etc. A powerful technology involving a large number of reactive species (molecules, atoms, ions, electrons, photons, UV and visible radiation) that have been shown to affect cells through complex biochemical procedures, which opens the door to new opportunities for gas plasma medicine.
However, despite scientific and technological innovation in medicine, currently available treatments based on this technology are still not fully effective in fighting cancer, achieving tissue regeneration and repair and combating drug-resistant pathogens, including new-onset infections. For gas plasma technology to progress effectively in these and other areas, it is necessary not only to identify the mechanisms involved in therapeutic action, but also to improve the cooperation of the scientific community working in this field from different disciplines and the relationship with industry.
The Therapeutical applications of Cold Plasma (PlasTHER) COST Action, led by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), aims to promote the development of a gas plasma medicine research programme in Europe and to trailblaze European activity in this area. The project is coordinated by Cristina Canal, a researcher at theBiomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering Group (BBT), director of thePlasmaMED lab and a professor at theDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, affiliated with the Barcelona East School of Engineering (EEBE)and theBiomedical Engineering Research Centre (CREB).
The PlasTHER Action is funded by the European Union under the COST Actions and is composed of a network of more than 100 experts in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and medicine from 24 countries. Over the coming years this synergistic network of research staff, the medical community and industry and patient associations will be exploring the possibilities of atmospheric-pressure plasmas in medicine to share, develop and consolidate the treatments under research, and to promote Europe’s leadership in this field.
Canal highlights that “the PlasTHER COST Action will help us to promote the development of gas plasma medicine in Europe and take the excellent research conducted so far to the test bench for the sake of patients.” She remarks that “the research areas that attract the greatest interest for their potential are cancer treatment—the selective action of gas plasma can prevent side effects in healthy tissues—and the antimicrobial action of gas plasma, which can be applied, for instance, in odontology and wound regeneration.”
The researcher explains that “the action of gas plasma is mainly based on its reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, which are intrinsic to cellular functioning. Depending on the type of species and the dose, they can play a double role by exerting beneficial effects on healthy cells and selectively attacking cancer cells.”
MEDICA-tradefair.com; Source: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC)
