Oxygen Cures Cancer in Mouse Study
It turns out that a breath of fresh air is all that is required to help the body beat cancer. A new study suggests that oxygenation can activate body's immune system to fight the disease.
According to The Times of India, researchers at Northeastern University in Boston discovered that intake of 40 to 60 percent more oxygen causes inactive T lymphocytes and other cancer killer cells to invade tumors. Researchers have explained that oxygen prevents build up of adenosine in tumor microenvironment which is responsible for suppression of immune system.
"Breathing supplemental oxygen opens up the gates of the tumor fortress and wakes up 'sleepy' anti-tumor cells, enabling these soldiers to enter the fortress and destroy it," said Michail Sitkovsky, Professor of Immunophysiology and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Northeastern, in a news release.
Oxygen therapy for cancer treatment has been explored before with no success, notes NBC News. It has also been associated with toxic consequences. While Sitkovsky's team tried a mix usually given to patients in hospitals, the team discovered that oxygen is useful only if immune cells are present.
Thus the oxygenation has to be combined with immunotherapy, now being tried for several types of tumors. Studies done on mice with lung tumors have shown substantial reduction in tumor size.
The research team also suggested combining oxygen and an agent called super caffeine which weakens the adenosine signaling pathway.
"The anti-tumor effects of supplemental oxygen can be further improved by the natural antagonist of the A2A adenosine receptor, which happens to be the caffeine in your coffee. People drink coffee because caffeine prevents the A2A adenosine receptor in the brain from putting us to sleep," Sitkovsky.
