FlexiPlasma Microcatheter–Embolic Material (FPM‐EM) Platform: A Non‐Inflammatory Pyroptosis Strategy for Precision Hepatocellular Carcinoma Therapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a global challenge, with conventional locoregional therapies like transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) lacking tumor specificity and promoting metastasis and inflammation. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) offers a tumor-selective ablation strategy but suffers from limited tissue penetration. To overcome this, the FlexiPlasma microcatheter (FPM) is developed, integrating flexible non-metallic microtubes and ring-shaped electrodes for precise CAP delivery to deep tumors. The optimized FPM-generated CAP eliminates cytotoxic UV and ozone while inducing tumor-specific pyroptosis via a ROS/Caspase-8/GSDMC pathway. Gasdermin-C (GSDMC) is highly expressed in liver tumors but absent in normal tissues, ensuring selective targeting with minimal inflammation. FPM is combined with embolic material (EM), PPP@CD hydrogel, enhancing injectability, tumor embolization, and sustained drug release. This FPM-EM strategy potentiates antitumor immunity, particularly CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses. These findings establish FPM-EM as a safe, effective, and minimally invasive therapy for HCC, revealing a non-inflammatory pyroptosis mechanism and broadening the potential of CAP-based cancer treatments. The FPM-EM combination offers promising new therapeutic options for HCC, addressing the limitations of TACE. Furthermore, the FPM-EM platform can be extended to the interventional therapy of other tumors and adapted to incorporate various drugs and nano-/micro-materials, highlighting the strong potential for future clinical translation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Small Methods
Published
2025-04-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202500231
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Heme Oxygenase-1 and Carbon Monoxide
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.84

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article

FlexiPlasma Microcatheter–Embolic Material (FPM‐EM) Platform: A Non‐Inflammatory Pyroptosis Strategy for Precision Hepatocellular Carcinoma Therapy

Syed Faheem Askari Rizvi, Ziqi Zhuang, Liqian Zhao, Xiaofei Wen et al.
6 citations
Small Methods
Heme Oxygenase-1 and Carbon Monoxide
4.84
article

FlexiPlasma Microcatheter–Embolic Material (FPM‐EM) Platform: A Non‐Inflammatory Pyroptosis Strategy for Precision Hepatocellular Carcinoma Therapy

Syed Faheem Askari Rizvi, Ziqi Zhuang, Liqian Zhao, Xiaofei Wen, Hui Liu, Erik W. Thompson, Chengchao Chu, Kanqi Wang, Hongwei Cheng, Yun Zeng, Lili Jiang, Jinyong Lin, Yating Zheng, Lijun Liu, Gang Liu, Yu Zhang, Fei Cao, Peiyu Wang, Changhong Li, Liang Zhang, Jingsong Mao, D. Li, Zhitong Chen, Lin Yang, Zhixiang Lu, Pan He, Xiaowei Lu
article en
6 citations

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a global challenge, with conventional locoregional therapies like transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) lacking tumor specificity and promoting metastasis and inflammation. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) offers a tumor-selective ablation strategy but suffers from limited tissue penetration. To overcome this, the FlexiPlasma microcatheter (FPM) is developed, integrating flexible non-metallic microtubes and ring-shaped electrodes for precise CAP delivery to deep tumors. The optimized FPM-generated CAP eliminates cytotoxic UV and ozone while inducing tumor-specific pyroptosis via a ROS/Caspase-8/GSDMC pathway. Gasdermin-C (GSDMC) is highly expressed in liver tumors but absent in normal tissues, ensuring selective targeting with minimal inflammation. FPM is combined with embolic material (EM), PPP@CD hydrogel, enhancing injectability, tumor embolization, and sustained drug release. This FPM-EM strategy potentiates antitumor immunity, particularly CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses. These findings establish FPM-EM as a safe, effective, and minimally invasive therapy for HCC, revealing a non-inflammatory pyroptosis mechanism and broadening the potential of CAP-based cancer treatments. The FPM-EM combination offers promising new therapeutic options for HCC, addressing the limitations of TACE. Furthermore, the FPM-EM platform can be extended to the interventional therapy of other tumors and adapted to incorporate various drugs and nano-/micro-materials, highlighting the strong potential for future clinical translation.

Small MethodsVol. 9(8)
Translational Research Institute (AU), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN), Harbin Medical University (CN), Queensland University of Technology (AU), Jimei University (CN), Xiamen University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Macau (MO), First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University (CN), Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (CN), Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (CN), Beijing Advanced Sciences and Innovation Center (CN), Xiamen Medical College, Zhejiang University (CN), Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Xiamen University, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Program
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Heme Oxygenase-1 and Carbon Monoxide
4.84
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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