Injecting Oxygen Into Tumors Can Kill Cancer

Injecting oxygen into cancerous tumours significantly boosts the chances of recovery, a ground-breaking study has revealed.

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.

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.

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[edit on 1-8-2009 by Scooby Doo]

Chemotherapy is a waste of money and time. No one in my family that had cancer was cured by chemo, in fact, they were all killed by it. You know what happens later? The whole family has to suffer the economic consequences.

S & F, great post. I honestly believe that within the next 10 years major breakthroughs in science and medical technology will provide a cure for cancer.

The only question.... will scientists and governments "cover-up" the cure, and continue to reap the enormous profits made by treating current cancer patients? But then again, this wouldn't be the first time our government has acted in "questionable" ways....

There already is a cure, it pops up everyonce in awhile and vanishes,
Much like different energy sources for oil, oil companies buy up the patent and it's gone!

Also the amount of money taken from people is rediculous, if one didn't have insurance it would be eye opening the amount of money THROWN at these people for POISON, chemotherapy is absoloutley horrible.

Did you guys even read the article? It's not injecting oxygen into tumors that's killing them, it's the oxygen in concert with chemotherapy which might boost recovery rate. The title of this thread is definitely misleading.

reply to post by Funshinez

Nope, they didn't read the article.

'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.'

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Oxygen does not kill cancer cells.

[edit on 8/2/2009 by Phage]

Originally posted by Funshinez
Did you guys even read the article? It's not injecting oxygen into tumors that's killing them, it's the oxygen in concert with chemotherapy which might boost recovery rate. The title of this thread is definitely misleading.

Nope. Good catch.