Fan Zhang of Fudan University in Shanghai and his team developed an "oxygen-eating" battery that, when implanted in mice with tumors, reduced or made the tumor masses disappear in just two weeks, in combination with an experimental class of anti-cancer drugs.
How does it work?
As they grow, tumors consume oxygen from surrounding healthy tissue and become hypoxic, or deprived of oxygen. There are drugs, you say hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAPs), which aim to exploit this feature to selectively kill hypoxic cells, sparing healthy ones and reducing treatment side effects. However, no HAPs are currently approved for clinical use due to limited evidence on their efficacy.
The battery developed by Zhang's team recharges itself thanks to salt water injected around it. In this way, it produces a very low voltage and consumes oxygen, creating a hypoxic environment that could optimize the action of prodrugs. A “dynamic duo” that kills cancer.
A new battery envelops tumors and suffocates them.
Battery eats oxygen, the study
The study involved 25 mice affected by breast cancer, divided into groups with different treatments. The results? After 14 days, the tumors had disappeared in 90% of the mice that received the functioning battery and HAP treatment, while in the other categories of mice, the tumors remained unchanged or increased in size.
The study results were published in the journal Science Advances. I'll link them here.
The next steps
Despite the promising results, there are still obstacles to overcome. First of all, the compatibility of the battery with human tissues and its safety must be evaluated in view of clinical tests on humans.
Furthermore, inducing hypoxia in tumors could have adverse effects, such as increasing the cancer's tendency to spread to other parts of the body.
Although this did not happen in mice, it will be necessary to carefully evaluate the costs and benefits of using the battery in humans before proceeding with further trials.
