Scientists at Oxford University found slightly increasing the supply strengthened blood vessels in cancer cells, making chemotherapy more effective.

Cells which are damaged and weak had a constricted oxygen supply and were less sensitive to radiotherapy treatments, in a series of experiments on mice.

Ground-breaking: Slightly increasing the oxygen supply could strengthen blood vessels in breast cancer cells like these

The team behind the breakthrough hailed it as an ‘exciting’ development which would allow drugs to ‘soften up’ tumours before they are targeted with strong treatments.

Scientists had previously tried to starve tumours of oxygen, believing a more stable blood supply would only help the cancer spread.

Professor Gillies McKenna, director of the UK-MRC Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology & Biology, said: ‘We are very excited to have uncovered this brand new approach to cancer treatment where the drugs prime the cancer cells for radiotherapy.

‘You might expect that by increasing an oxygen supply to tumour cells you would help them grow. But actually by oxygenating the cell with a better blood supply we enable radiotherapy and chemotherapy to do a better job of killing them.’

The research is published today in the journal Cancer Today and includes tests on breast, head and neck cancers as well as carcinomas on the skin and major organs.

Scientists tested the effects of four drugs which are in clinical use or under development for cancer therapy.

The drugs were given to the mice at doses which did not alter tumour growth but the effects of the drugs acted to increase the blood supply to the tumours.

An early trial in human patients with pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat has also been positive, Professor McKenna said.

He added: ‘Previous work by our group had shown that treatment with some of these types of drugs could improve radiotherapy, but it was not understood how. Now with the new understanding, strategies could be developed to use these drugs to ‘soften up’ tumour cells before treating them with radiotherapy.’

Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer information, said: ‘For a long time scientists have been looking for ways to boost the oxygen supply to tumours to improve response to treatment and make radiotherapy even more effective. 

‘We still need to do more work on this technique but boosting the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy are very exciting developments that hold real potential for use in patients.’

In Australia about 275 people develop diabetes type-2 every day, and so the work of a team of mathematicians at QUT holds hope for the healing of these debilitating wounds that plague people with diabetes.

A QUT-led team of international researchers from the Institute of Health and Biomedical innovation at Kelvin Grove has modelled the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which is the intermittent exposure of the body to pure oxygen under pressure, to heal the chronic wounds that lead to the need for amputation.

QUT mathematician Jennifer Flegg said a small cut on the foot of a diabetic could have catastrophic effects because their wounds did not heal the same way as normal wounds because of many factors including reduced blood flow.

“The investigation showed that HBOT applied intermittently under pressure to a diabetic wound speeds up its healing,” Mrs Flegg said.

“Our modelling showed firstly that only HBOT, and not oxygen applied with no extra pressure, stimulates healing of these chronic wounds.

“We also found that HBOT must be continued until the wound has completely healed in order for it to be effective.

“However, we found that individual wounds need to be treated differently.

“Each patient has different healing capacities with HBOT and so our modelling shows that there should be a research focus on individual treatment protocols in order to optimize the outcome for each patient.”

An article on these findings by Mrs Flegg, Professor Ian Turner and Emeritus Professor Sean McElwain from QUT and Professor Helen Byrne from the Centre for Mathematical Medicine and Biology at the University of Nottingham will be published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS): Computational Biology, the top-ranked journal in the field of mathematical and computational biology.

It is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal focusing on research of exceptional significance that furthers our understanding of living systems through the application of computational methods.

Source
Queensland University of Technology

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Lianna has RSD from an accident in Jan 2005. She crushed her ankle. For many months she was wheelchair bound.  After her 9th treatment she could stand up; after 55 hours of HBOT she was able to walk and resume house chores.

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Michael was admitted to the critical care unit after a severe automobile accident on the Coquihalla Hwy. He was in a coma for 6 ½ months. He had his 1st hyperbaric oxygen treatment on Oct 31 2006. After his 3rd HBOT treatment he was out of his vegetative state.

Apollo, age 5, was diagnosed with Autism and Aphasia. At age 2, Apollo fell into a swimming pool. Before HBOT he was non verbal, did not make eye contact, was allergic to many foods, and would not follow commands. After a few hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments Apollo uttered his first sentence. He had a total of 80 hrs of HBOT; today Apollo is a happy child attending normal school.

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effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Patients and method:
Forty-four patients with persisting symptomatology after breast-conservation therapy were prospectively observed. Thirty-two women received hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a multiplace chamber for a median of 25 sessions (7–60). One hundred per cent oxygen was delivered at 240 kPa for 90-min sessions, five times per week. Twelve control patients received no further treatment. Changes throughout the irradiated breast tissue were scored before and after hyperbaric oxygen therapy, using modified LENT-SOMA criteria.

Results:
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy patients showed a significant reduction in pain, edema and erythema scores as compared withuntreated controls (P < 0.001). Fibrosis and teleangiectasia, however, were not significantly affected by hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Seven out of 32 women were free of symptoms after hyperbaric oxygen therapy, whereas all 12 patients in the control group had persisting complaints.

Conclusion:
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy should be considered as a treatment option for patients with persisting symptomatology following breast-conserving therapy.