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Bubbly drinks inspire more effective cancer treatment

Research

Cancer researchers are developing a bubbly drink packed with oxygen microbubbles to make treatments more potent for hard to treat tumours like pancreatic cancer.

© Vladimir Arndt

Researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Ulster, supported by Cancer Research UK, are investigating how to re-oxygenate tumours with a drink that could deliver extra oxygen to the site of the tumour, allowing radiotherapy and chemotherapy to deliver a knock-out blow.

Some tumours have learnt to adapt to harsher, low oxygen conditions making them more resistant to drugs. This is because as tumours grow, the blood vessels delivering essential nutrients, including oxygen, become increasingly twisted and weak meaning chemotherapy fails to penetrate the heart of the tumour.

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