Cold Atmospheric Plasma Ameliorates Skin Diseases Involving Reactive Oxygen/Nitrogen Species-Mediated Functions.

Skin diseases are mainly divided into infectious diseases, non-infectious inflammatory diseases, cancers, and wounds. The pathogenesis might include microbial infections, autoimmune responses, aberrant cellular proliferation or differentiation, and the overproduction of inflammatory factors. The traditional therapies for skin diseases, such as oral or topical drugs, have still been unsatisfactory, partly due to systematic side effects and reappearance. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), as an innovative and non-invasive therapeutic approach, has demonstrated its safe and effective functions in dermatology. With its generation of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species, CAP exhibits significant efficacies in inhibiting bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, facilitating wound healing, restraining the proliferation of cancers, and ameliorating psoriatic or vitiligous lesions. This review summarizes recent advances in CAP therapies for various skin diseases and implicates future strategies for increasing effectiveness or broadening clinical indications.

Glyoxalase I is differentially expressed in cutaneous neoplasms and contributes to the progression of squamous cell carcinoma.

Glyoxalase I (GLO1) is a methylglyoxal detoxification enzyme being implicated in the progression of multiple malignancies. However, currently, the role of GLO1 in human nonmelanoma skin tumors remains unclear. To explore the expression of GLO1 in cutaneous neoplasms and its role in the pathogenesis of skin cancers, we determined the GLO1 expression in multiple subtypes of cutaneous neoplasms and cell lines harboring different tumorigenicity. Also, the GLO1 siRNA transfection was performed in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)-13 cells or SCC in the xenograft model. The results show that GLO1 was overexpressed by SCC, basal cell carcinoma, and verrucous carcinoma but weakly expressed by several benign neoplasms. Human papilloma virus 16 E6/E7-transfected keratinocytes expressed more GLO1 than did normal keratinocytes, although both of them had lower levels of GLO1 than SCC-13 cells. Moreover, the knockdown of GLO1 by siRNA was related to enhanced apoptosis of SCC-13 cells in the presence of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand and inhibited cell invasion and migration, which was mirrored by the suppressed growth of SCC xenografts in mice. Finally, the GLO1 regulation of SCC-13 cells might be relevant to methylglyoxal-induced p53 translocation. Therefore, GLO1 is prevailingly expressed in cutaneous neoplasms of higher malignancy and contributes to the progression of SCC.

[Effect of tumor antigen released during photodynamic therapy or freezing-thawing on the maturation phenotypes of dendritic cells].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of tumor antigen on the maturation phenotypes of dendritic cells through different treatments of antigenic exposure. METHODS: The necrosis and apoptosis of 4T1 mammary carcinoma cells were detected after an in vitro treatment of photodynamic therapy (PDT) or freezing-thawing. The supernatant of 4T1 cells was harvested and added into the culture of immature or mature dendritic cells (DCs). The immune phenotypes and morphological features of DCs were analyzed by flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy respectively. RESULTS: Necrosis predominated after these treatments. But the apoptotic ratio was higher in PDT cells than that in freezing-thawing cells (34.7% ± 9.6% vs 16.8% ± 5.1%, P < 0.05). After co-culturing with different supernatants, the immature DCs of PDT group showed more significant increases of positive rates of CD80 (22.4% ± 4.6%), CD86 (22.5% ± 5.6%) and I-A/I-E (24.3% ± 6.3%) versus the immature DCs of freezing-thawing group (17.3% ± 3.3%, 18.0% ± 4.7% and 20.7% ± 3.1% respectively, P < 0.05) and control group (14.2% ± 3.0%, 13.6% ± 3.3%, 15.5% ± 2.1%, P < 0.05). No difference was found between two groups of mature DCs (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: As compared with the treatment of freezing-thawing, PDT yields a higher apoptotic ratio of 4T1 cells and an elevated expression of maturation phenotypes in immature DCs.

[Effects of elevating temperature on photodynamic reaction in laryngeal squamous carcinoma cells induced by delta-aminolevulinic acid].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate effect of temperature on delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) induced photodynamic reaction in laryngeal squamous carcinoma cells. METHODS: Human laryngeal squamous carcinoma cells of the line Hep-2 cells were co-cultured with 2 mmol/L ALA (Group A) or without ALA (Group B) at the culturing temperature 19 - 46 degrees C. Three hours later cellular protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) level was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to observe the fluorescent strength in the Hep-2 cells. The ratio of cell death (including necrosis and apoptosis) was detected with flow cytometer before and after photodynamic reaction. RESULTS: In Group A the PpIX level at the temperature of 19 degrees C was (0.25 +/- 0.06) microg/L, and raised to (1.07 +/- 0.11) microg/L at 46 degrees C. There was no cellular PpIX detected in Group B at any temperature. Before laser radiation the cell death ratios of both groups were the same at the temperature 19 - 37 degrees C, and at the temperature 37 - 46 degrees C. After laser radiation the cell death ratio of Group A raised from 31.11% to 98.92% as the temperature went up steadily, but the results of Group B showed the same curve as before laser radiation. At any same temperatures the cell death ratios of Group A were all significantly higher than those of Group B (all P < 0.05), and as the temperature was elevated the difference between the 2 groups raised from 28.99% to 59.26%. CONCLUSION: Moderate higher temperature enhances the PpIX production and photodynamic reaction in human laryngeal squamous carcinoma induced by ALA in vitro.