Nonthermal plasma needle: Development and targeting of melanoma cells

A nonthermal plasma torch has been developed to study the targeted killing of melanoma cells. In this paper, 1205Lu melanoma cells and keratinocytes were exposed to the plasma. These cells were transfected with green fluorescent protein in order to establish a system for coculture with primary keratinocytes. Results show that a 10 s treatment with plasma causes a morphological change in the melanoma cells, as observed after 18 h. However, after only 15 min following plasma treatment, a significant killing of melanoma cells was observed, with a much reduced killing of keratinocytes. Nonthermal plasma may serve as an effective tool for future therapeutic cancer treatment.