Let us consider some facts about the appearance, growth and development of malignant tumors; their spread to distant tissues and resistance to standard methods of treatment. What is the abnormal background, which is rarely discussed in popular books and articles about cancer, but which is known to professional oncologists?
What is known about the oxygenation of tissues during the birth and growth of cancer cells or the initial stages of cancer?
It has been known for decades that malignant cells normally and constantly appear and exist in any human organism due to the billions of cell divisions and mutations. These abnormal cells, under normal conditions, are quickly detected by the immune system and destroyed. However, the work of macrophages, enzymes and other agents of the immune system is severely hampered when the conditions of hypoxia exists. That was the conclusion of various studies. For example, Dr. Rockwell from Yale University School of Medicine (USA) studied malignant changes on the cellular level and wrote, “The physiological effects of hypoxia and the associated micro environmental inadequacies increase mutation rates, select for cells deficient in normal pathways of programmed cell death, and contribute to the development of an increasingly invasive, metastatic phenotype” (Rockwell, 1997). The title of this publication is Oxygen delivery: implications for the biology and therapy of solid tumors.
Summarizing the results of numerous studies, a group of biological scientists from University of California (San Diego) chose the following title for their article: The hypoxia inducible factor-1 gene is required for embryogenesis and solid tumor formation (Ryan et al, 1998).
Under normal conditions, even a group of hypoxic cells dies (or is easily destroyed). What about cells in malignant tumors? Researchers from the Gray Laboratory Cancer Research Trust (Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex, UK) concluded, “Cells undergo a variety of biological responses when placed in hypoxic conditions, including activation of signaling pathways that regulate proliferation, angiogenesis and death. Cancer cells have adapted these pathways, allowing tumours to survive and even grow under hypoxic conditions...” (Chaplin et al, 1986).
Moreover, tumors may simply not grow when the conditions of a poor oxygen supply exists, since American scientists from Harvard Medical School noted, that “... Hypoxia may thus produce both treatment resistance and a growth advantage” (Schmaltz et al, 1998).
There is so much professional evidence about the fast growth of tumors when the condition of hypoxia is present that a large group of Californian researchers recently wrote a paper Hypoxia - inducible factor-1 is a positive factor in solid tumor growth (Ryan et al, 2000). Echoing their paper, a British oncologist Dr.
Harris from the Weatherhill Institute of Molecular Medicine (Oxford) went further with the manuscript Hypoxia - a key regulatory factor in tumor growth (Harris, 2002).
When the solid tumor is large enough and the disease progresses, cancer starts to invade other tissues. This process is called metastasis. Does poor oxygenation influence it? “...Therefore, tissue hypoxia has been regarded as a central factor for tumor aggressiveness and metastasis” (Kunz & Ibrahim, 2003). That was the conclusion of a group of German researchers from the University of Rostock and the University of Leipzig.
Since dozens of medical and physiological studies yield the same result, what about the following title? Tumor oxygenation predicts for the likelihood of distant metastases in human soft tissue sarcoma (Brizel et al, 1996). This title claims that tumor oxygenation predicts chances of cancer invasion.
Probably now, the reader can guess about the effect of cancer treatment and the chances of survival for those who suffer from severe chronic hyperventilation. Indeed, “... tumor hypoxia is associated with poor prognosis and resistance to radiation therapy” (Chaplin et al, 1986).
“Low tissue oxygen concentration has been shown to be important in the response of human tumors to radiation therapy, chemotherapy and other treatment modalities. Hypoxia is also known to be a prognostic indicator, as hypoxic human tumors are more biologically aggressive and are more likely to recur locally and metastasize” (Evans & Koch, 2003).
“Clinical evidence shows that tumor hypoxia is an independent prognostic indicator of poor patient outcome. Hypoxic tumors have altered physiologic processes, including increased regions of angiogenesis, increased local invasion, increased distant metastasis and altered apoptotic programs” (Denko et al, 2003).
Could breathing influence the tumors and if so, how?
The authors of one of the studies cited above mused about the origins of all these problems, “Surprisingly little is known, however, about the natural history of such hypoxic cells” (Chaplin et al, 1986). Why could they appear? What is the source of tissue hypoxia? We can again suggest that our breathing can influence the breathing of all body tissues, tumors included.
What could be the possible chain of events? Here is a scientific hypothesis for further investigation. Chronic hyperventilation washes out CO2 from each cell of the human organism. Since CO2 is a dilator of small blood vessels, low CO2 concentrations lead to the constrictions of arterioles causing problems with blood supply and oxygen delivery. In addition, low CO2 values cause inability of red blood cells to release whatever little oxygen they bring (the suppressed Bohr effect). The final outcome is hypoxia in the tissues. This is the necessary background for any cancer. Then genetic and environmental factors can make appearance of tumors in the weakest tissues possible. Further clinical picture depend on interplay of the key parameters: degree of hypoxia, blood and nutrients supply, and other biochemical processes. More research is required to establish the exact chain of events for various conditions.
For my full article about cancer and breathing click here.
For the list of the quoted references click here
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