New Insights on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Cancer
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30683/1927-7229.2024.13.02Keywords:
Hyperbaric Oxygen, Cancer, oxygen, degenerative diseases, hypoxia, senesenceAbstract
Hypoxia is a critical characteristic of malignant tumors and involves enhanced cell survival, angiogenesis, glycolytic metabolism, and metastasis. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) has been used to improve and cure disorders involving hypoxia and ischemia, HBOT enhances the amount of dissolved oxygen in the plasma and thereby increasing O2 delivery to the tissue. Studies on HBOT and cancer have mostly focused on whether enhanced oxygen may act as a promoter of cancer. As oxygen is believed to be required for all the major processes of wound healing, including angiogenesis, this particular idea would give the impression that HBOT will promote cancer growth and recurrence. Nevertheless, this is not the case since the use of HBOT in patients with malignancies should be considered safe and therapeutic. There is no evidence indicating that HBO neither acts as a stimulator of tumor growth nor as an enhancer of recurrence. On the other hand, there is evidence that implies that HBO has tumor-inhibitory effects, this manuscript pretends to expand our knowledge on the effect and the mechanisms behind tumor oxygenation by HBOT.
References
Chen SY, Tsuneyama K, Yen MH, Lee JT, Chen JL, Huang SM. Hyperbaric oxygen suppressed tumor progression through the improvement of tumor hypoxia and induction of tumor apoptosis in A549-cell-transferred lung cancer. Sci Rep 2021; 11(1):12033. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91454-2
Manish KC, Rodriguez JR, Gonzalez FL, Arroyo NA, Garcia KM, Olalde J, Berdiel MJ, Morales-Borges R, Miranda-Massari JR, Gonzalez MJ. Research advances in hyperbaric oxygen therapy use in cancer: A Review. Am Res J Oncology 2021; 3(1): 1-6.
Poff AM, Ari C, Seyfried TN, D'Agostino DP. The ketogenic diet and hyperbaric oxygen therapy prolong survival in mice with systemic metastatic cancer. PLoS One 2013; 8(6): e65522. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065522
Moen I, Stuhr LE. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and cancer a review. Target Oncol 2012; 7(4): 233-42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-012-0233-x
Daruwalla J, Christophi C. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for malignancy: a review. World J Surg 2006; 30(12): 2112-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-006-0190-6
Herrera-Campos AB, Zamudio-Martinez E, Delgado-Bellido D, Fernández-Cortés M, Montuenga LM, Oliver FJ, Garcia-Diaz A. Implications of Hyperoxia over the Tumor Microenvironment: An Overview Highlighting the Importance of the Immune System. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14(11): 2740. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14112740
Narkowicz C K, Vial JH and McCartney PW. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Increases Free Radical Levels in the Blood of Humans, Free Radical Research Communications 1993; 19(2): 71-80. https://doi.org/10.3109/10715769309056501
Weber SU, Koch A, Kankeleit J, Schewe JC, Siekmann U, Stüber F, Hoeft A, Schröder S. Hyperbaric oxygen induces apoptosis via a mitochondrial mechanism. Apoptosis 2009; 14(1): 97-107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-008-0280-z
Gonzalez MJ, Seyfried T, Nicolson GL, Barclay BJ, Matta J, Vasquez A, D’ Agostino D, Olalde J, Duconge J, Hunninghake R, Berdiel MJ, Cintrón A. Mitochondrial Correction: A New Therapeutic Paradigm for Cancer and Degenerative Diseases. J Orthomolec Med 2018; 33(4): 1-20.
Hadanny A, Forer R, Volodarsky D, Daniel-Kotovsky M, Catalogna M, Zemel Y, Bechor Y, Efrati S. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy induces transcriptome changes in elderly: a prospective trial. Aging (Albany NY) 2021; 13(22): 24511-24523. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203709
Gupta K, Madan E, Sayyid M, Arias-Pulido H, Moreno E, Kuppusamy P, Gogna R. Oxygen regulates molecular mechanisms of cancer progression and metastasis. Cancer Metastasis Rev 2014; 33(1): 183-215. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-013-9464-2
Dave KR, Prado R, Busto R, Raval AP, Bradley WG, Torbati D, Pérez-Pinzón MA. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy protects against mitochondrial dysfunction and delays onset of motor neuron disease in Wobbler mice. Neuroscience 2003; 120(1): 113-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4522(03)00244-6
Rossignol DA, Bradstreet JJ, Van Dyke K, Schneider C, Freedenfeld SH, O’Hara N, Cave S, Buckley JA, Mumper EA, Frye RE. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment in autism spectrum disorders. Med Gas Res 2012; 2(16). https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-9912-2-16
Palzur E, Zaaroor M, Vlodavsky E, Milman F, Soustiel JF. Neuroprotective effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in brain injury is mediated by preservation of mitochondrial membrane properties. Brain Res 2008; 1221: 126-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2008.04.078
Poff AM, Ward N, Seyfried TN, Arnold P, D’Agostino DP. Non-toxic metabolic management of metastatic cancer in VM mice: novel combination of ketogenic diet, ketone supplementation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. PLoS One 2015; 10: e0127407. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127407
Lin PY, Sung PH, Chung SY, Hsu SL, Chung WJ, Sheu JJ, Hsueh SK, Chen KH, Wu RW, Yip HK. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Enhanced Circulating Levels of Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Angiogenesis Biomarkers, Blood Flow, in Ischemic Areas in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease. J Clin Med 2018; 7(12): 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm7120548
Memar MY, Yekani M, Alizadeh N, Baghi HB. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy: Antimicrobial mechanisms and clinical application for infections. Biomed Pharmacother 2019; 109: 440-447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.10.142
Yang C, Liu G, Zeng X, Xiang Y, Chen X, Le W. Therapeutic effects of long-term HBOT on Alzheimer's disease neuropathologies and cognitive impairment in APPswe/PS1dE9 mice. Redox Biol 2024; 70: 103006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2023.103006
Hink J, Jansen E. Are superoxide and/or hydrogen peroxide responsible for some of the beneficial effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy? Medical Hypotheses 2001; 57: 764-769. https://doi.org/10.1054/mehy.2001.1488
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Similar Articles
- Michael T. Halpern, Susan G. Haber, Florence K. Tangka, Susan A. Sabatino, David H. Howard, Sujha Subramanian, Cancer Screening Among U.S. Medicaid Enrollees with Chronic Comorbidities or Residing in Long-Term Care Facilities , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 2 No. 2 (2013)
- Ingrid Cely, Seang Yiv, Qian Yin, Anoush Shahidzadeh, Li Tang, Jianjun Cheng, Fatih M. Uckun, Targeting Mantle Cell Lymphoma with Anti-SYK Nanoparticles , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2012)
- Rufino Echegoyen-Carmona, Daniel Mendoza-Posada, Catalina Camacho-Mendoza, Oswaldo Rafael Sánchez-Campos, Clinical Issues and Treatment of Lung Cancer in Mexico , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2012)
- Kenji Ina, Yuu Hosoe, Kazuhiro Ito, Miho Tatematsu, Masako Sakakibara, Megumi Kabeya, Satoshi Kayukawa, Yoshihiro Ohta, A Retrospective Survey of Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis vis-à-vis Cancer Prevalence , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 9 (2020)
- Aradhana Mohan, S.L. Pranitha, S. Arpitha, S.N. Geeta, Sushmitha K. Thomas, Prognostic Factors Affecting the Overall Survival and Disease-Free Survival in Carcinoma Lung Patients Treated with Sequential Chemoradiation and Concurrent Chemoradiation: A Retrospective Study , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 14 (2025)
- Daiki Taniyama, Tsuyoshi Torii, Junichiro Kuga, Yoriko Dodo, Hitomi Tanaka, Yoshimasa Sueda , Kiyomi Taniyama , A Case Report of Visual Disturbance Caused by Thrombosis of the Superior Sagittal Sinus , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 3 No. 1 (2014)
- S.N. Letuta, A.F. Kuvandykova, S.N. Pashkevich, The Kinetics of Exogenous Phosphors Delayed Fluorescence in Tissues , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2012)
- Donald Rozario, Sammer Zeglam, Wolfram Siede, A Yeast Mutant Screen Identifies TORC and Lys63 Polyubiquitination Pathway Genes among Determinants of Sensitivity to the Cancer Stem Cell-Specific Drug Salinomycin , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 9 (2020)
- Archana Venkatesan, Karthick Sivanatham, Immune Evasion and Resistance in Cancer Progression: Overcoming Checkpoint Inhibition Challenges with Personalized Immunotherapy Guided by PD-L1 Expression , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 14 (2025)
- K. Pushkala, P.D. Gupta, Increased Incidence of Breast Cancer Due to Long Exposure of Light , Journal of Analytical Oncology: Vol. 5 No. 4 (2016)
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.