1097-0215/asset/olbannerleft.jpg?v=1&s=45719cd7de57873027993264fcc568b335a8cd56)
1097-0215/asset/olbannerright.jpg?v=1&s=5e0fba63c1309b3036eb9215a0e1e83dd02efd19)
Letter to the Editor
Response to the letter by V. Bocci entitled “Does ozone really ‘cure’ cancer?”
Article first published online: 11 JUN 2008
DOI: 10.1002/ijc.23629
Copyright © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Schulz, S., Mandic, R., Werner, J. A., Weihe, E. and Bette, M. (2008), Response to the letter by V. Bocci entitled “Does ozone really ‘cure’ cancer?”. Int. J. Cancer, 123: 1223. doi: 10.1002/ijc.23629
Publication History
- Issue published online: 17 JUN 2008
- Article first published online: 11 JUN 2008
- Manuscript Accepted: 17 MAR 2008
- Manuscript Received: 12 MAR 2008
Dear Sir,
The letter of Bocci again highlights the general problem in the field of ozone research where simple observations such as detection of cytokine elevations after exposure of blood to ozone serve as a claim of having cleared the underlying mechanisms of the ozone treatment in general. Spontaneous tumor remission is a well known phenomenon in animal models such as the VX2 carcinoma tumor model but was accounted for by the independent control group (sham) that received no treatment whatsoever. In this group only 1 animal out of 14 exhibited spontaneous tumor regression. Therefore, spontaneous tumor remission has been unequivocally excluded as an explanation of the high tumor regression rate after O3/O2-pneumoperitoneum (O3/O2-PP) treatment.
The references mentioned by Bocci refer to an application scheme of ozone known as ozonated autohaemotherapy (AHT). However, O3/O2-PP as a new form of application cannot be compared with the results from reinfused ex vivo ozonated blood as performed in AHT.
We concluded from our data that the robust anti-tumorous and anti-metastatic effects of O3/O2-PP are due to reprogramming immune responses towards effective tumor immune surveillance and immune-mediated tumor clearance. Such a physiologic mechanism of tumor eradication might explain the high effectiveness paralleled by low clinical or no hematological side effects as demonstrated in our study. Therefore, appropriate mouse tumor models to test anti-tumorous and anti-metastatic effects of O3/O2-PP will become established by our group to further prove anti-cancer effects of O3/O2-PP in a variety of cancer types and to unravel the precise underlying immunological mechanisms. We expect to find pleiotropic immunoregulatory mechanisms including the involvement of regulatory T cells and tumoricidal leukocytes.
Clearly, the presented data pointing to O3/O2-PP as a potent new therapy in VX2 carcinomas cannot be simply transferred to other tumor entities or even human cancers. Interestingly, Dr. Schulz has unpublished observations which he presented at the industrial fair Medica 2007 in Düsseldorf, Germany, indicating that O3/O2-PP treatment had a massive influence on a spontaneous and inoperable malignant melanoma on the nose of a dog according to veterinary diagnoses (Fig. 1, private photo documentation by Dr. S. Schulz of an Yorkshire Terrier which came into his veterinary practice). This further supports our concept of O3/O2-PP-mediated therapeutically effective tumor immune surveillance particularly since it is well known that melanoma is a tumor in which immune regulation has a crucial impact. Whether immune regulated human tumors can be also effectively treated with O3/O2-PP remains to be shown by more case reports from veterinary medicine and controlled clinical studies.
Figure 1. Yorkshire Terrier, female, 11-years-old. Situation of the tumor before (a) and at the end of the O3/O2-PP therapy 5 days later (b). The necrotizing tumor tissue was mechanically removed (executed by Dr. S. Schulz) by a short lasting surgical intervention.
Yours sincerely,
Siegfried Schulz, Robert Mandic, Jochen A. Werner, Eberhard Weihe, Michael Bette