COCKTAIL Project

The COCKTAIL Project aims at designing a novel target therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), whose survival is one of the lowest among all major human cancers and has not improved in last decades. To achieve this goal, this project will take advantage from the cocktail of the reactive oxigen and nitrogen species (RONS) generated by cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in the liquid media alone and in combination with cetuximab, which will be used in a data driven approach:
- to investigate the selective effects of CAP activated media (PAM) against HNSCC;
- to clarify the still unknown mechanisms involved in their therapeutic action;
- to meet the urgent need to standardize protocols and procedures.
The methodological approach will involve an interdisciplinary team, dealing with chemistry, computational modelling, molecular biology and oral pathology to open a great window of opportunities in the newborn area of Plasma Medicine.