The effect of hydrogen on cancer was studied as early as 1975. At that time, high-pressure hydrogen was used, which did not attract the attention of the medical community until 2007 when Japanese scholars discovered the biological effect of hydrogen: neutralizing toxic free radicals. In 2018, Professor Xu Kecheng used hydrogen-oxygen inhalation as a cancer control therapy and achieved remarkable results.
Professor Xu Kecheng summarized the effects of hydrogen-oxygen machines on cancer mainly in the following aspects:
1. Relieve cancer fatigue
Anyone will feel tired, but cancer patients are more prone to fatigue. Cancer fatigue is different from ordinary fatigue. Even if you have a good sleep, you still feel tired. No matter how determined you are to cheer up, it is difficult to fight against the lingering fatigue. The impact of fatigue on the quality of life of cancer patients exceeds the sum of nausea, depression and pain.
For improving cancer fatigue, traditional measures are either ineffective or have many adverse reactions, which are difficult for patients to tolerate. Are there any measures that can produce effects, can be widely used, and have no side effects?
Hydrogen therapy meets the above requirements.
Hydrogen molecules can fight peroxide free radicals in the body
It is now recognized that the accumulation of peroxide free radicals, i.e. reactive oxygen species, is a central factor causing fatigue. This is a remarkable research result in recent years. Regarding peroxide free radicals, hydrogen molecules (H2) have the following effects: (1) Directly reduce hydroxyl free radicals. (2) Directly reduce peroxynitrite and regulate gene expression. Hydrogen molecules can scavenge another strong free radical, ONOO. (3) Regulate gene expression and indirectly reduce oxidative stress. Hydrogen can improve peroxide damage in an Nrf2-dependent manner.
Hydrogen molecules can eliminate inflammation
Inflammatory pathway activation has been considered to be the basis for persistent fatigue in cancer patients. Fatigue usually begins during cancer treatment. Chemotherapy and surgery can induce inflammatory responses. In patients who are actively receiving treatment, an increase in inflammatory markers is associated with increased fatigue. In cancer survivors, elevated levels of inflammatory markers have been observed despite cessation of cancer treatment, and there is a correlation between them and fatigue levels. Hydrogen molecules can reduce the expression of biological factors that promote inflammation and exert an anti-inflammatory effect. There are many pro-inflammatory factors, including NF-κB, TNF-α, interleukin (IL) -1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, CCL2 and interferon (INF) -γ, ICAM-1, PGE2 and PGE2. Korean scholars studied the effect of hydrogen-rich water on a chronic fatigue mouse model and found that compared with the control group that took pure water orally, the inflammatory factors in the hydrogen group, serum TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17, and intrahepatic IL-1β were significantly reduced.
Hydrogen molecules have neuroprotective effects and improve sleep
Cancer patients often have circadian rhythm disorders and sleep disorders before, during and after treatment. This abnormality is also a factor in cancer fatigue. Hydrogen molecules can improve sleep, in addition to the aforementioned elimination of chronic low-grade inflammation, but also due to its direct neuroprotective effect.
There is a special connection between the stomach and the brain, called the stomach-brain axis. Inhaled hydrogen activates the expression of b-adrenergic receptors, induces the stomach to release plasma ghrelin, activates the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) in the brain, promotes growth hormone production, and exerts a neuroprotective effect, thereby maintaining a normal circadian rhythm and improving sleep.
2. Anti-inflammatory
Inflammation can be infectious inflammation caused by infection or non-infectious inflammation not caused by infection. Usually, acute inflammation is beneficial and is an automatic defense response of the human body, but chronic inflammation is often harmful and can cause many chronic diseases, especially cancer.
Cancer cells are normal cells that are traitors formed by gene mutations during replication under the influence of their own genetic defects or microenvironment. The number of cancer cells produced = the number of cell divisions x the number of mutant genes produced per division. Because of inflammation, organ cell damage will increase, the number of cell divisions will increase, and the occurrence of cell mutations will also increase, and the formation of cancer cells will increase. Controlling inflammation helps control cancer.
Studies have shown that hydrogen has an anti-inflammatory mechanism. In a study of brain injury models, it was found that hydrogen can reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Using a yeast polysaccharide-induced systemic inflammatory response animal model, it was found that inhaling hydrogen can reduce multi-organ damage and increase the survival rate of mice. This effect is mainly due to its reduction of serum oxidative damage products, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) production, and the reduction of the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine HMGB1. Cell and animal experiments have confirmed that hydrogen can inhibit the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), reduce the expression of factors such as amino-terminal kinase (JNK), and prevent phosphorylated ERK from shifting from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, thereby reducing the expression of inflammatory mediators and alleviating inflammatory responses. In a study of ischemia-reperfusion renal injury, it was also found that hydrogen can reverse the expression of many inflammation-related factors after reperfusion injury, thereby exerting a protective effect on the kidneys. Regardless of the mechanism, it seems that hydrogen can inhibit tumor occurrence, progression and metastasis by exerting an anti-inflammatory effect and reducing the release of inflammatory factors.
3. Inhibition of cancer cells. Hydrogen molecules can inhibit cancer cells, which is generally believed to be due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The most powerful and toxic oxidants in the body are •OH and ONOO-, which can act on nucleic acids, lipids and proteins, causing DNA damage, lipid peroxidation and protein denaturation. Smoking, air pollution, chemicals, mental stress, inflammation, etc., induce these peroxidants, promote cell mutations and trigger cancer cell formation. Hydrogen is a specific scavenger of these two oxidants.
Only neutralizing these toxic active oxygen species without affecting active oxygen species such as oxygen, nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide that have effects on the body is the concept of hydrogen selective antioxidant.
Some Japanese people say that hydrogen is effective for 67 diseases; an American scholar published an article saying that hydrogen molecules can improve at least 170 kinds of poor health and diseases; another American expert said that among the top ten causes of death in the United States, except for suicide and traffic accidents, hydrogen can improve them.
4. Lung protection
Hydrogen can "protect" the lungs and has the effect of improving and preventing lung damage.
The characteristics of hydrogen lung protection are:
First, hydrogen has a strong diffusion ability. Hydrogen has a small molecular weight and can easily penetrate biological membranes and enter the cytoplasm, mitochondria and nucleus. The lungs are the organs closest to the external environment, and hydrogen can enter the lungs more easily.
Second, hydrogen has a selective antioxidant effect. Hydrogen molecules can selectively react with free radicals hydroxyl and peroxynitrite without reducing other reactive oxygen species related to cell signaling (such as H2O2), so they will not affect the normal metabolic oxidation-reduction reaction in the body, nor will they affect the gas exchange of the lungs themselves.
Third, hydrogen has strong biocompatibility. The tissue compatibility of hydrogen molecules is higher than that of other antioxidants, which is especially important for delicate tissues such as the lungs, and will not harm lung tissue.
Fourth, hydrogen is particularly safe.
Fifth, the lungs have abundant blood flow. Whether inhaled or injected with a solution containing hydrogen, hydrogen can quickly penetrate the lung tissue and enter the whole body, which is extremely helpful for improving the body's overall condition.
Sixth, the high concentration of hydrogen may have a stronger effect.
V. Transforming cancer cells and microenvironment
Studies have shown that hydrogen molecules can inhibit the proliferation and movement of cancer cells and promote the degeneration and apoptosis of cancer cells. Animals with axillary tumors were given either hydrogen (H2) (6 hours a day) or nitrogen (N2) and the tumor formation was observed weekly. It was found that the tumor formation was slow in animals that inhaled hydrogen and the tumors were smaller, suggesting that hydrogen inhibited tumor growth. The researchers further conducted cell culture experiments to compare the growth of cancer cells under normal gas and hydrogen-containing gas conditions and found that under hydrogen-containing conditions, cancer cell proliferation slowed down, movement slowed down, and degeneration and apoptosis occurred.
●In 1975, American scholars Dole et al. published an article in the journal Science, reporting that continuous breathing of 97.5% hydrogen at 8 atmospheres effectively inhibited skin squamous cell carcinoma in animals, and proposed for the first time that molecular hydrogen inhibited tumor growth through antioxidant effects.
●Japanese scholars found that giving animals with cirrhosis hydrogen water can prevent liver cancer. Treating cancer cells with hydrogen water found that cancer cell growth was inhibited.
●Scholars from Shanghai Jiaotong University found that hydrogen can inhibit animal intestinal cancer by regulating the redox microenvironment and interfering with the expression of genes related to cancer cell proliferation, thereby promoting cancer cell apoptosis and inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. Hydrogen molecules have been proven to be a selective, non-toxic, non-residue, and extremely cheap antioxidant.
In the "elimination" and "transformation" of Chinese cancer control, hydrogen molecules seem to play a role in transforming cancer cells and microenvironments.
6. Enhance the effect and reduce side effects
From a practical point of view, hydrogen has at least two effects on cancer:
First, hydrogen can "transform" cancer cells, making them more "compliant" and enhancing the effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Second, hydrogen can reduce the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
