Does cancer thrive on oxygen? It seems counterintuitive, but some types of cancers need a low-oxygen environment to grow, says a landmark University of Georgia study.
In fact, the study found low – not high – levels of oxygen were a driving factor in rapid cancer cell growth.
While this conclusion “run[s] counter to widely accepted beliefs that genetic mutations are responsible for cancer growth,” as Science Daily’s Kathleen Raven points out, this study’s conclusion – which later studies confirmed – could change how doctors approach their cancer treatment philosophy.
Earlier studies found that low oxygen levels contributed to a person’s developing cancer. However, none of them showed that hypoxia (low oxygen levels) fueled the uncontrolled growth that characterizes cancer cells.
mRNA Data Unravels the “Cancer Thrives on Oxygen” Myth
The University of Georgia team arrived at their conclusion when they analyzed several samples of messenger RNA (mRNA) data derived from seven different kinds of carcinomas – stomach, pancreatic, kidney, lung, liver, breast, and ovarian.
That’s precisely where the University of Georgia researchers came to this breakthrough conclusion. When cells lack oxygen, they generate different proteins to help them survive. It’s not so much a transformation at the genetic level but rather how the mRNA modifies a cell’s protein production in a low-oxygen environment that makes the difference.
Using the HIF1A gene as an indicator of how much oxygen was in a cell, the team discovered that all the seven types of cancers whose data they studied had increased numbers of that gene. The more HIF1A genes in a cell, the lower the oxygen levels in a cell.
When a cell experiences low oxygen levels, it interrupts the process that normal cells use to change food into energy – oxidative phosphorylation. In low-oxygen conditions, cells instead use glycolysis to generate energy. However, since glycolysis isn’t as efficient as oxidative phosphorylation, oxygen-deprived cancer cells create new blood vessels to provide them with oxygen so they can switch back to oxidative phosphorylation.
Thanks to the newly created blood vessels, the cancerous cells that comprise the tumor temporarily slow their growth. However, the new blood vessels bring in more food, eventually causing the tumor to grow rapidly once again. As one of the scientists who worked on the project put it, this process creates a “vicious cycle.”
What Would an Abundance of Oxygen, Then, Do to Cancer?
So, if hypoxia drives growth in certain cancerous tumors, what would an abundance of oxygen do? Researchers Ingrid Moen and Linda E. B. Stuhr examined that question in their study on using hyperbaric oxygen therapy to slow cancer’s growth. Published in Targeted Oncology, their research reveals that indeed, hyperbaric oxygen therapy – a treatment that increases air pressure to well beyond normal to deliver much more oxygen than even breathing 100% oxygen at normal air pressure – can inhibit tumor growth in certain types of cancer.
Before the University of Georgia study, doctors shied away from hyperbaric oxygen therapy since earlier theories thought that cancer used gene modification, not the creation of new blood vessels, to grow. In fact, many discouraged even patients with their cancer in remission from going to hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment for other issues, fearing that their cancers would recur, given that oxygen was one of the main ingredients in successful wound healing since it was necessary for healthy cells to grow.
However, other studies conducted specifically on HBO treatments on cancer patients for other conditions indicated that HBO did not stimulate tumor growth or enhance recurrence for patients in remission. Quite the opposite, the researchers found. Looking at the literature, they discovered evidence that indicated that HBO could have “tumor-inhibitory effects in certain cancer subtypes.”
Moen and Stuhr searched PubMed, the National Institutes of Health’s biomedical literature database, for papers that dealt with both HBO treatment and cancer, using “hyperoxia,” “neoplasms,” and “hyperbaric oxygenation” as their search terms. They discovered 28 papers that reported instances of physicians using HBA as either a “stand-alone or adjuvant treatment” for various types of cancer.
Since studies have shown that hypoxia is a factor in resistance to conventional cancer treatments, especially radiation treatments, it shows promise as an integrative treatment as well. Additionally, other studies show that hypoxia induces the “epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cancer[s]” (a process in which epithelial cells lose their cell-to-cell adhesion and migrate to other areas of the body), which, in turn, often leads to metastasis.
For those reasons, the researchers thought that looking further into a possible future role for HBO in cancer treatment might prove fruitful.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a Stand-Alone Treatment for Cancer
As Moen and Stuhr reviewed the papers in depth, they focused on cancer growth, angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels), cell survival, and metastasis (spreading to other parts of the body) in cancers treated with HBO over nine years. Several papers reported some success with HBO treatments, finding evidence of apoptosis (cell death) in some cancers, including osteosarcomas (bone cancer), breast cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, and gliomas, a type of brain tumor.
Furthermore, one of the studies Moen and Stuhr reviewed showed that HBO might reverse the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in DMBA-induced breast cancer, making tumors less aggressive and less likely to spread.
HBO as a Complementary Therapy to Conventional Cancer Treatments
Other studies indicate that HBO treatment shows promise as a complement to chemotherapy since it provides added oxygen, a necessary ingredient to maximize cytotoxicity in the target cancer cells. Research on breast tumors did, in fact, demonstrate that HBO treatment augmented chemotherapy, producing a better clinical outcome for patients who received HBO in some subtypes of mammary tumors. Studies on HBO’s effect on other types of cancers, including gliomas, non-small-cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer, also showed promise as a complement to chemotherapy treatments.
HBO also shows promise as a complementary treatment to radiotherapy for head and neck carcinomas, prostate cancer, leukemia, and some colorectal cancers, some of the studies indicated.
There’s another benefit to HBO therapy. It stimulates the release of stem cells, which two Cedars-Sinai studies indicate also have promise in treating cancer. Additionally, the studies show using HBOT therapy as an adjunct treatment can shorten recovery time from chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
A Non-Toxic, Holistic Therapy to Help You Fight Cancer
Whether used in conjunction with other treatments or as a stand-alone alternative treatment for some kinds of cancer, hyperbaric oxygen therapy takes advantage of cancer’s dependence on low oxygen levels to spread. It’s a non-toxic, holistic therapy to help fight both early- and late-stage cancers.
To discover more about how HBO therapy could help you in your battle against cancer, schedule a free consultation with the caring team at Brio-Medical Cancer Clinic today.
