Hydrogen gas represses the progression of lung cancer via down-regulating CD47
Meng J, Liu L, Wang D, Yan Z, Chen G. · Bioscience Reports. 2020;40(4):BSR20192761.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Mechanistic lung-cancer cell study with archival xenograft tissues from a prior mouse experiment
Cancer research
Inhaled H₂
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Human A549 and H1975 non-small-cell-lung-cancer cell lines, macrophage co-cultures and previously collected A549 xenograft tissues from male nude mice.
Cell experiments were performed in triplicate. The mouse-tissue group sizes were not reported in this article because the tissues came from a previous experiment; no total is inferred.
Cells were assessed from 12 to 72 hours depending on assay; prior mice received two hours/day for four weeks.
Cells received 20%, 40% or 60% H₂ for outcome-specific periods. The prior mouse experiment used 60% H₂ inhalation for two hours daily over four weeks.
High-concentration H₂ gas; the carrier composition was not reported, so the mixture is not classified as Brown's gas.
20%, 40% and 60% H₂ in vitro; 60% H₂ for mice. Total flow and carrier-gas composition were absent.
Not reported — total gas flow is absent.
Carrier O₂ concentration and flow were not reported and are not inferred.
Standard culture conditions, CD47 knockdown/overexpression controls, atmosphere-exposed xenograft control tissues and cisplatin comparator tissues from the prior experiment.
Outcomes and reported result
Cell proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, CD47/CDC42 signaling, macrophage phagocytosis and xenograft histology/immunohistochemistry.
H₂ reduced several malignant cell behaviors and CD47/CDC42 measures and increased apoptosis/phagocytosis. CD47 overexpression weakened, and CD47 knockdown strengthened, selected H₂-associated effects. Mouse-tissue findings were supportive but did not constitute a newly randomized in-vivo experiment in this article.
The complete free PMC article was checked for cell concentrations/timing, genetic comparisons, archival-animal provenance, missing mouse sample and gas-flow/carrier data, results, funding and conflicts.
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
Mostly cell-line mechanism work; mouse samples and complete prior allocation are absent here, the 60% gas carrier/flow is unspecified, multiple endpoints were run in triplicate and clinical antitumour efficacy was not tested. The work was funded by a hydrogen-in-lung-cancer translational program; authors declared no competing interests and named a commercial gas-machine supplier.
Lung-cancer cell lines and archival mouse xenograft tissue; it does not establish treatment of human lung cancer.
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
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: 32314789 · DOI: 10.1042/BSR20192761
Free full article in PubMed Central.
Complete PMC article, cited provenance of the mouse tissues and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
2026-08-10