Did you know that cancer is responsible for about 1 out of every six deaths worldwide? This staggering statistic means that cancer claims more lives than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Shockingly, it currently holds the position of being the second leading cause of death on a global scale, following cardiovascular diseases.
The National Cancer Institute defines cancer as a “disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body.”
The relationship between oxygen and cancer is a bit more complex and has been the subject of decades of research.
So, what’s the role of oxygen?
When you inhale, oxygen enters the lungs and then travels through the bloodstream, nourishing cells across the body. Cancer cells also need oxygen to survive and that’s why tumors form new blood vessels (angiogenesis). As tumors grow rapidly, they outgrow the oxygen supply. However, this doesn’t always hinder their growth. Research indicates that certain cancers can thrive and resist treatment in oxygen-deprived conditions.
Your body has an oxygen-sensing mechanism that helps your body monitor and adapt to changes in oxygen levels and ensures that the cells receive an adequate supply of oxygen. The major component of this oxygen sensing system is Hypoxia Inducible Factors. These HIFs play an important role in responding to the body’s demand for more oxygen by activating genes and proteins for the development of new networks of blood vessels.
In the context of cancer, growing tumors can adapt to hypoxia by hijacking these HIFs for their survival. The HIFs can instigate the creation of new blood vessels to enhance oxygen supply. HIFs also alter how cancer cells metabolize glucose, enabling them to derive energy even in oxygen-deprived conditions.
Hypoxic cancer cells acquire additional capabilities, including metastasis (spreading beyond their origin) and resistance to chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The exact mechanisms by which hypoxic tumors acquire these harmful capabilities remain only partially understood. HIF activation is a contributing factor. Hypoxia in tumors also plays a significant role in their resistance to immunotherapy.
Furthermore, cancer cells adapt to hypoxic environments by using an alternative chemical pathway for energy production–one that does not rely on oxygen.
Does Exposure to Oxygen Worsen Cancer?
No.
The National Cancer Institute clarifies that “exposure to air will not make tumors grow faster or cause cancer to spread to other parts of the body.”
Exercise With Oxygen Therapy is not a cancer treatment and we do not sell it as one. Tumour hypoxia is a problem of blood supply inside a tumour — abnormal vessels and poor perfusion — not a shortage of oxygen in the air you breathe. Raising the oxygen in your bloodstream does not reliably reach the hypoxic core of a tumour, which is why oncology research into tumour hypoxia centres on radiosensitisers, hypoxia-activated drugs and vascular-targeting agents rather than on breathing extra oxygen (Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, 2021).
If you have a cancer diagnosis, talk to your oncology team before starting any new exercise or oxygen programme. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
Clinical Studies on Oxygen-Cancer Connection
Over 70 years ago, Dr. Otto Warburg observed that tumour cells generate energy by fermenting glucose even when oxygen is available — a pattern now known as the Warburg effect.
Warburg went on to propose that this metabolic switch was the cause of cancer. That hypothesis has not held up. Researchers now understand the Warburg effect as a consequence of the genetic changes that drive a cell to divide uncontrollably — fast-growing cells reorganise their metabolism to build new cell material — rather than the root cause of the disease (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute).
Source: The Warburg Effect: How Does it Benefit Cancer Cells?
A 2012 study highlighted how accelerated cell proliferation in metastatic cells can intensify hypoxia levels, potentially creating a vicious cycle that promotes cancer's aggressive behavior (Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, 2012)
Clinical observations reveal a strong correlation between the oxygen status of tumors and patient survival rates. A study involving patients with nonmetastatic, high-grade soft tissue sarcomas found that those with higher median tumor oxygen pressure (pO2) values (>10 mm Hg) had a significantly higher 18-month disease-free survival rate (70%) compared to those with lower median pO2 values (<10 mm Hg, 35%) (Brizel et al., Cancer Research, 1996).
Source: Tumor Oxygenation Predicts for the Likelihood of Distant Metastases in Human Soft Tissue Sarcoma1
A 2015 review examined how hypoxia drives cancer progression, angiogenesis, metastasis and resistance to therapy, including the role of hypoxia-inducible factors — and what that means for treatments designed to target hypoxic tumour regions (Hypoxia, 2015).
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