Hydrogen Gas Shows Promise for Treating Blood Disorders
- Authors
- Li-Ren Qian, Zhengcheng Wu, Jian Cen, Sergiu Pasca, Ciprian Tomeleasa
- Journal
- Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1155/2019/3917393
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Graft-versus-Host Disease
- Body System
- Hematologic
TL;DR
Scientists found that hydrogen gas can help treat blood diseases by reducing inflammation and damage to cells, and they think it could be a useful new medicine that doctors might use more often in the future.
Key Finding
Hydrogen gas demonstrates antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and cell-protective properties that may have therapeutic potential in treating various hematological (blood-related) diseases.
Summary
This review article examines how hydrogen gas may help treat blood-related diseases. Researchers have found that hydrogen appears to reduce oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules), decrease inflammation, and prevent cell death. The authors discuss how hydrogen has shown promise in treating conditions like graft-versus-host disease (a complication after stem cell transplants) and other blood disorders, based on over 1,000 published studies.
Practical Takeaway
While over 1,000 studies suggest hydrogen may have medical benefits for blood disorders, this is a review article rather than a new clinical trial, so it doesn't provide new human evidence. Most research to date has been basic science or animal studies. Anyone interested in hydrogen therapy for blood conditions should note that further clinical trials are needed to establish safe and effective treatment protocols.
Abstract
Hydrogen gas has been reported to have medical efficacy since the 1880s. Still, medical researchers did not pay much attention to hydrogen gas until the 20th century. Recent research, both basic and clinical, has proven that hydrogen is an important physiological regulatory factor with antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects. In the past two decades, more than 1000 papers have been published on the topic, including organ ischemia-reperfusion injury, radiation injury, diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, or cancer. We have previously hypothesized and proven the therapeutic effects of hydrogen gas in graft-versus-host disease following stem cell transplantation. In the current manuscript, we present the clinical advances of hydrogen gas in hematological disorders.