Hydrogen Gas Shows Promise Against Lung Cancer by Boosting Immune Response
- Authors
- Jinghong Meng, Leyuan Liu, Dongchang Wang, Zhenfeng Yan, Gang Chen
- Journal
- Bioscience Reports
- Year
- 2020
- DOI
- 10.1042/BSR20192761
- Study Type
- Cell Culture
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Lung Cancer
- Body System
- Respiratory
TL;DR
Hydrogen gas has been found to slow down lung cancer growth by reducing levels of a specific protein called CD47.
Key Finding
Hydrogen gas inhibits lung cancer cell growth and promotes cancer cell death by reducing CD47 protein expression, which allows immune cells to better recognize and attack the cancer cells.
Summary
Researchers studied how hydrogen gas might fight lung cancer by examining its effects on cancer cells in the laboratory and in mice. They found that hydrogen gas reduced the levels of a protein called CD47 on cancer cells, which helped the body's immune cells (macrophages) recognize and destroy the cancer cells more effectively. When they artificially increased CD47 levels, hydrogen gas lost its anti-cancer effects, but when they reduced CD47, hydrogen gas worked even better at stopping cancer growth.
Practical Takeaway
This is early laboratory research in cancer cells and mice, not human studies, so it's too preliminary to draw conclusions about hydrogen water's effects on lung cancer in people. The findings suggest a potential mechanism worth further investigation, but many years of additional research would be needed before any clinical applications could be considered.
Abstract (excerpt)
Abstract Hydrogen gas (H2) has been identified to play an anti-tumor role in several kinds of cancers, but the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In our previous study, our project group found that H2 could decrease the expression of CD47 in lung cancer A549 cells via the next-generation…