Ozonetherapy as a possible biological response modifier in cancer

Immunotherapy can nowadays be considered as the fifth modality of cancer therapy besides surgery, radio-, chemo- and hormone therapy. Immunotherapy can be carried out either by exogenous administration of immunomodulatory compounds such as thymic hormones, melatonin, interferons and interleukins oriand by endogenous activation of the immune system by a multitude of inducers, namely bacterial extracts, lipopolysaccharides, vegetable lectins, mitogens, proteinases, Ca++ ionophores, CDs antibodies and oxidative compounds. Indeed the discovery that ozone, by rapidly decomposing in several reactive oxygen species, which can transiently induce neosynthesis of cytokines on lymphocytes and monocytes, has given a novel impetus and a rational basis for using ozonated autohaemotherapy as an immune adjuvant. Re-activation of a suppressed immune system represents a meaningful approach in various immunodeficiencies occurring in chronic viral diseases and in cancer. Ozonated autohaemotherapy should achieve a physiological-like re-activation with practically no side-effects. While there are several anecdotal reports on the useful application of ozonetherapy in cancer, no controlled clinical trials have been carried out so far. We hope that on the basis of a rational, recently established protocol we will be able to clarify advantages and disadvantages of ozonated autohaemotherapy, particularly in elderly patients where palliative monochemotherapy procures a poor quality of life with little therapeutic advantage.