Influence of hydrogen-occluding-silica on migration and apoptosis in human esophageal cells in vitro .
Li Q, Tanaka Y, Miwa N. · 2017.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Controlled in-vitro cell study
Cancer research
Other forms
Mixed cytotoxic preclinical signal.
Cell viability, migration and mechanistic laboratory outcomes.
Methods at a glance
Human esophageal squamous-carcinoma cells and normal esophageal epithelial cells.
Cell-culture assays with article-specific replicate counts.
Article-specific cell-culture exposure periods.
Hydrogen-occluding silica added to culture medium to release molecular hydrogen.
H₂ released into cell-culture medium by hydrogen-occluding silica.
Concentration-dependent silica exposures, including a high 1,200-ppm condition.
Not applicable.
No oxygen was co-delivered.
Untreated cell cultures and concentration comparisons.
Outcomes and reported result
Cell viability, proliferation, migration, reactive-oxygen-species measures and apoptosis markers.
The preparation inhibited carcinoma-cell proliferation and migration, while high concentrations also showed cytotoxic or apoptosis-related effects in normal epithelial cells.
The full article was checked for methods, intervention details, outcomes, positive and null findings, funding and conflicts. This record does not imply medical efficacy.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit. Null findings, outcome type, study design and precision all matter.
Cautions and applicability
Cell-only study of a silica product; effects cannot be assigned to molecular hydrogen alone and do not establish anticancer benefit.
The tested esophageal cell lines only.
In-vitro study appraisal — preliminary
Some concerns
Comparator cultures were used, but replicate independence, assay blinding and product-specific confounding limit interpretation.
Sequence generation checked where reported · Allocation concealment generally unclear · Personnel blinding generally unclear · Outcome-assessor blinding generally unclear · No prospectively registered analysis plan identified
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Certainty is assessed by important outcome across a complete eligible evidence set, not by attaching a final grade to one source.
Sources and record status
PMID: 28744359 · DOI: 10.4103/2045-9912.208510
A free full article is available through PubMed Central.
Official PubMed Central full article and PubMed bibliographic record; source identity, methods, intervention, results, funding and conflicts checked 10 August 2026.
2026-08-10