Promising new research suggest cancer outcomes could be greatly improved with little more than some extra oxygen.
Researchers have been looking at this approach for about three decades, and the new findings could significantly increase the survival rate of patients suffering from a variety of cancers, Northeastern University reported. The findings suggest "supplemental oxygenation inhibits the hypoxia-driven accumulation of adenosine in the tumor microenvironment and weakens immunosuppression," the researches reported. These results suggest the treatment could improve immunotherapy and even shrink tumors by unleashing anti-tumor T lymphocytes, which target and kill cancer cells.
"This discovery shifts the paradigm of decades-long drug development, a process with a low success rate," said Michail Sitkovsky, an immunophysiology expert at Northeastern University. "Indeed, it is promising that our method could be implemented relatively quickly by testing in clinical trials the effects of oxygenation in combination with different types of already existing immunotherapies of cancer."
The findings were based off Sitkovsky's life work, which found that a receptor on the surface of immune cells (the A2A adenosine receptor) can block T cells from invading tumors, and even neutralize cells that do manage to enter. These new findings show that inhaling air composed of between 40 and 60 percent oxygen (regular air only has about 21 percent) weakened signals that protected tumors, and awakened T cells that had already gained the ability to invade.
"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," Sitkovsy said. "However, if anti-tumor immune cells are not present, oxygen will have no impact."
Sitkovsky said the novel treatment could be even more successful if used in combination with a synthetic agent dubbed "super-caffeine," that has the ability to block tumor-protecting effects of the adenosine receptor.
"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," Sitkovsky said. "People drink coffee because caffeine prevents the A2A adenosine receptor in the brain from putting us to sleep."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
