A TINY implanted battery has cured mice of breast cancer in two weeks, sparking hopes for human sufferers.
The device works by creating a tiny current in salt water injected into surrounding tumour tissue which soaks up oxygen.
Research scientists said the battery is self-charging and last up to 500 hours.
The device starves cancer cells of oxygen — a condition called hypoxia.
The technique also boosts the effectiveness of special drugs injected to target areas of hypoxic cells.
Lead author Professor Fan Zhang, of Fudan University in Shanghai, China, said: “After 14 days, the tumours in the five mice that received both the working battery and drug treatment had decreased by an average of 90 per cent — with four of these mice experiencing tumour disappearance.
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“Tumours in the other test mice which did not have the combination of battery implant and drugs either remained the same size or increased.”
The drugs used are known as HAPs — hypoxia-activated prodrugs.
They are not currently approved for clinical use due to limited evidence of their effectiveness.
But Professor Zhang explained: “Tumours typically deplete the oxygen in the surrounding non-cancerous tissues as they grow, resulting in the cells becoming oxygen-free, or hypoxic.
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"Hypoxia-activated prodrugs aim to take advantage of this feature by only targeting hypoxic cells — minimising damage to healthy cells and reducing side effects.
“The battery can cover the tumour and persistently consume the oxygen within it for more than 14 days.”
But Professor Randall Johnson, of Cambridge University, warned inducing hypoxia in a tumour can increase risk of cancer spread.
He added: “While this didn’t appear to occur in these mice, the costs and benefits of the battery’s use in people needs to be assessed before human treatment.”
Breast cancer kills 11,500 people in the UK on average every year.
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