Cold Atmospheric Plasma - Possible Cure of Autoimmune Disorders and Cancer via Attenuating Inflammation

Sep 21, 2026

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Autoimmune diseases and cancers threaten human health and often lack effective cures. The work identifies pathological inflammation as a shared driver of uncontrolled cell proliferation and distinguishes autoimmune disorders from cancers by whether cell-death programs remain under control. The proposed strategy attenuates prolonged inflammation by maintaining mitochondrial redox (reduction–oxidation) homeostasis. It further argues that cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), due to redox modulation, may treat both conditions by suppressing sustained inflammatory signaling.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Immune system disorders and autoimmune disease

Cancer as chronic metabolic and immune disorders

Inflammation as a unifying mechanism

Mitochondrial ROS, macrophage polarization, and redox homeostasis

Cold atmospheric plasma as a potential therapy

Ivyspring International Publisher InternationalJournal of Biological Sciences 2024; 20(14): 5436-5449. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.102445 Review Cold Atmospheric Plasma: Possible Cure of Autoimmune Disorders and Cancer via Attenuating Inflammation Xiaofeng Dai1􀀍, Shuo Feng2, Yan Zheng2􀀍 1. National Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Precision Surgery & Regenerative Medicine, Shaanxi Provincial Center for Regenerative Medicine and Surgical Engineering, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, P.R. China 2. Department of Dermatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, P.R. China. 􀀍 Corresponding authors: Yan Zheng, Department of Dermatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, P.R. China, Email: [zenyan66@126.com. Xiaofeng Dai](zenyan66@126.com. Xiaofeng Dai), National Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Precision Surgery & Regenerative Medicine, Shaanxi Provincial Center for Regenerative Medicine and Surgical Engineering, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, P.R. China, Email: [xiaofengteam@163.com](xiaofengteam@163.com). © The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)). See [http://ivyspring.com/terms](http://ivyspring.com/terms) for full terms and conditions. Received: 2024.08.16; Accepted: 2024.09.27; Published: 2024.10.07 Abstract Autoimmune diseases and cancers, two seemingly unrelated diseases, have been threatening human health, and many of them have no cure. By identifying pathological inflammation as the driving cause of uncontrolled cell proliferation in both classes of diseases, and differentiating autoimmune disorders and cancers by whether the cell death programs are under control, we propose the attenuation of prolonged inflammation via maintaining mitochondrial reduction-oxidation (redox) homeostasis being a possible cure of both diseases. Importantly, we propose the feasibility of applying cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in treating autoimmune disorders and cancers given its redox-modulatory nature, which not only extends the medical utilities of CAP to autoimmune diseases and all other inflammation-driven disorders, but also positions the efficacy of CAP against cancer cells to its suppressive role on prolonged inflammation. Our insights may open an innovative avenue towards a unified view on the molecular mechanism driving the diversified types of medical miracles of CAP and what CAP can do in the field of plasma medicine. Keywords: Autoimmune disorder; Cancer; Inflammation; Cold atmospheric plasma; Macrophage polarization; Mitochondria Introduction Immune system disorders are caused by abnormally low or high activity of the immune system. While immune deficiency renders the body vulnerable to infections, immune over-activity is typically associated with autoimmune diseases as antibodies produced by the immune system attack and damage its own tissues instead of fighting against infections, the process of which develops inflammation. Typical therapeutic strategies for autoimmune disorder control are based on systemic immunosuppression that, although ameliorate symptoms, are typically associated with long-term adverse effects and require continuous oral or injectable medications that imposes economic burden to the patients. Thus, despite current medication advances, cure of autoimmune diseases remains elusive, and patients still suffer from progressive disability with shortened life span and comorbidity due to, possibly, weakened immunity. Cancers can be considered as chronic metabolic and immune disorders featured with 10 hallmarks that can be summarized to ‘uncontrolled proliferation’, ‘evading programmed cell death’,‘tumour angiogenesis and metastasis’,‘reprogra

FAQs

What common mechanism links autoimmune disorders and cancer in this study?

Pathological or prolonged inflammation is presented as a driving cause behind uncontrolled cell proliferation in both disease categories.

How does the study differentiate autoimmune disorders from cancers?

The distinction is based on whether the cell death programs are under control and, for cancer, the cells’ ability to break control of programmed cell death.

Why does the paper suggest cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) could help?

CAP is proposed as feasible because of its redox-modulatory nature, which may reduce prolonged inflammation and influence CAP efficacy against cancer cells through suppression of sustained inflammatory roles.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Sage