Authors: Xiaofeng Dai, Dongyan Cai, Peiyu Wang, Nan Nan, Lihui Yu, Zhifa Zhang, Renwu Zhou, Dong Hua, Jianying Zhang, Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov, Erik Thompson

Journal: International Journal of Biological Sciences (2022)

Institution: Wuxi School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.

Research Areas: Cancer research

Cell Lines: SUM159PT, SUM149PT, MDAMB231, MCF7, BT474, SKBR3 (TNBC lines, luminal breast cancer cell lines, HER2-positive breast cancer cell line)

Summary: Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is selective against many cancers with few side effects, yet its molecular mechanism remains unclear. The authors propose CAP as a promoneg onco-therapy targeting cancer stemness via the AQP3/FOXO1 axis. AQP3-19Y phosphorylation was essential for SCAF11-mediated AQP3-5K K48-ubiquitination and FOXO1 stability, which was suppressed on CAP exposure. The authors also demonstrated the synergistic advantages between CAP and Atorvastatin towards enhanced anti-cancer efficacy. They advocated CAP as a promising onco-therapy, functioning alone or as an adjunct to other therapeutic modalinowards the hope of cancer eradication. HoloMonitor was used for cell migration and single cell study.

Keywords: HoloMonitor M4, cell migration, single cell analysis, cold atmospheric plasma, cancer stemness, selective onco-therapy, aqp3, foxo1, scaf11, ubiquitination, atorvastatin