Ozone therapy prevents the onset of dysplasia in HPV16-transgenic mice-A pre-clinical efficacy and safety analysis

Abstract

Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), most often HPV16, is associated with the development of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. Recently, ozone therapy was reported to have considerable efficacy against rabbit VX2 tumors, induced by the cottontail rabbit papillomavirus. The present study aims to determine whether similar results can be obtained in HPV16-transgenic mice, possibly paving the way for new therapeutic options against HPV-induced cancers. HPV16-transgenic and wild-type, female, 20 weeks-old mice were injected intraperitoneally with medical O-3/O-2 (80 mL/kg, at O-3 50 mu g/mL), once a day, for 5 consecutive days. The animals were sacrificed at 25 weeks-old, and skin samples were analyzed histologically to study tumour progression. Blood and internal organ samples were used to study toxicological parameters. 85.7% of untreated transgenic mice showed dysplastic skin lesions, compared with 28.6% of O-3-treated mice. This was associated with a marked reduction of dermal inflammation associated with those lesions. No significant changes were observed in any toxicological parameters. These preliminary results support the hypothesis that O-3 therapy is effective against papillomavirus-induced lesions, particularly against those induced by the most common high-risk virus, HPV16. Further studies are needed to confirm the mechanisms underlying these effects.