Hydrogen Gas Boosts Immune System in Advanced Lung Cancer Patients
- Authors
- Ke-Cheng Xu, Ji-Bing Chen, Xiao-Feng Kong, Wei Qian, Feng Mu, Tian-Yu Lu, You-Yong Lu
- Journal
- Medical Gas Research
- Year
- 2020
- DOI
- 10.4103/2045-9912.304221
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Body System
- Immune System
TL;DR
Inhaling a hydrogen-oxygen gas mixture for two weeks improved the immune cell function in patients with advanced lung cancer.
Key Finding
Two weeks of hydrogen gas inhalation normalized multiple immune cell types in advanced lung cancer patients, including restoring low counts of helper T cells and natural killer cells and reducing elevated counts of exhausted immune cells.
Summary
This study looked at whether breathing hydrogen gas could help restore immune system function in 20 patients with advanced lung cancer. The researchers measured different types of immune cells before and after patients breathed a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for 4 hours daily for 2 weeks. They found that after hydrogen inhalation, several immune cell types that were abnormally low returned to normal levels, and immune cells that were abnormally high decreased to normal ranges.
Practical Takeaway
While this small study suggests hydrogen inhalation may help restore immune function in lung cancer patients during treatment breaks, it is very preliminary—it involved only 20 patients with no control group for comparison, and did not measure whether these immune changes actually improved cancer outcomes or survival. Much larger and more rigorous studies would be needed before any clinical recommendations could be made.
Abstract
Following standard treatments, the traditional model for enhancing anti-tumor immunity involves performing immune reconstitution (e.g., adoptive immune cell therapies or immunoenhancing drugs) to prevent recurrence. For patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, we report here on two objectives, the immunosenescence for advanced non-small cell lung cancer and hydrogen gas inhalation for immune reconstitution. From July 1st to September 25th, 2019, 20 non-small cell lung cancer patients were enrolled to evaluate the immunosenescence of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets, including T cell, natural killer/natural killer T cell and gamma delta T cell. Two weeks of hydrogen inhalation was performed during the waiting period for treatment-related examination. All patients inhaled a mixture of hydrogen (66.7%) and oxygen (33.3%) with a gas flow rate of 3 L/min for 4 hours each day. None of the patients received any standard treatment during the hydrogen inhalation period. After pretreatment testing, major indexes of immunosenescence were observed. The abnormally higher indexes included exhausted cytotoxic T cells, senescent cytotoxic T cells, and killer Vδ1 cells. After 2 weeks of hydrogen therapy, the number of exhausted and senescent cytotoxic T cells decreased to within the normal range, and there was an increase in killer Vδ1 cells. The abnormally lower indexes included functional helper and cytotoxic T cells, Th1, total natural killer T cells, natural killer, and Vδ2 cells. After 2 weeks of hydrogen therapy, all six cell subsets increased to within the normal range. The current data indicate that the immunosenescence of advanced non-small cell lung cancer involves nearly all lymphocyte subsets, and 2 weeks of hydrogen treatment can significantly improve most of these indexes. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University in China (approval No. Fuda20181207) on December 7th, 2018, and was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03818347) on January 24th, 2019.