Hydrogen Atoms Reveal Earth's Past and Aid in Monitoring Cancer Progression

If you've ever stepped into a science class, you've likely heard of hydrogen—one of the most abundant elements in the universe. As the lightest element in the periodic table, hydrogen is often combined with other elements, such as oxygen, to become H2O, more commonly known as water.

Hydrogen has a broad range of uses—and over the decades, scientists and engineers around the globe have been discovering new and innovative ways to use hydrogen—from the development of airships such as blimps to more modern methods of transport, such as hydrogen fuel cell batteries.

For the next generation of graduates who complete accelerated BSN programs online, a new and novel way of using hydrogen may make its way into hospitals around the United States. Groundbreaking research completed by geologists and biologists from a combined research team from Princeton University and the University of Colorado, Boulder, has identified new medical applications for hydrogen—notably, as a tool for detecting the atomic age of some types of cancer.

Cancer is one of America's top killers—claiming more than six hundred thousand lives annually. Could hydrogen help to shift the fight away from treatment and towards proactively defending the public against the perils of cancer?

Hydrogen — An Abundant Element

Hydrogen is one of the simplest elements to exist on the periodic table—and while, as an element, it has existed in the universe for billions of years, humans only began to study and truly understand it in the mid-18th century, largely led by English chemist and aristocrat, Henry Cavendish.

Cavendish was very much an eccentric—known to avoid servants and had a series of unusual habits. These eccentricities led to discoveries that were only possible with extreme amounts of patience—such as gasses that are only able to be produced in laboratory settings. Cavendish's findings in the late 1760s demonstrated the properties of 'inflammable air'—air that would be created by dissolving metals with acid. In the decades after Cavendish's discovery, inflammable air would eventually be named hydrogen—and pave the way for the chemical revolution, which led to reforms by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier in the ways chemistry was interpreted.

Several centuries of understanding later, humanity has a much clearer understanding of how chemistry works. However, much can be done to further humanity's practical applications with chemistry.

Understanding Ancient Earth with Hydrogen Atoms

Fascinatingly, two centuries of research on hydrogen identified a number of different uses for this abundant element. You may not know it, but research into hydrogen particles forms a key part of many different fields—from geology to chemistry.

Take, for example, hydrogen atoms that may have been trapped in blocks of ice during the Ice Age. Climate scientists working in a field called paleoclimatology can analyze these blocks of ice to get historical readings about the climate of the past—long before traditional data-capturing methods were invented.

In some modern scientific fields, hydrogen has immense capability and is used as a fuel. Hydrogen fuel forms the liquid hydrogen fuel tank, a significant part of the Space Launch System, a NASA-led initiative to resume travel to the moon.

The Science Behind Cancer

The destructive power of cancer may seem like a far cry from the chemistry of ice blocks, but interestingly, there are some similar characteristics in the chemical activity that occurs.

Cancer is a condition that impacts more than two million Americans annually—and with that comes a wide range of different symptoms and conditions. Many cancers act in a similar way—mutating abnormal or damaged cells to form tumors. This requires immense amounts of energy, so cancer often tries to find abundant energy sources to rely on—causing the hydrogen consumed within the body to decay and form deuterium, a hydrogen isotope, over time. In fact, research revealed that fast-growing cancers had a much different prevalence of hydrogen in the body over time.

From a strictly chemical composition, this represents an interesting opportunity for scientists—as these tumors, while difficult to detect by traditional methods, actually contain decaying elements—such as hydrogen. This presents an opportunity to reproduce methods that are similar to that of carbon dating in a medical environment.

A New Cancer Monitoring Tool — Hydrogen

The research, led by geochemist Ashley Maloney, asked a simple question—could the atomic signature that certain cancers possess be used to track and monitor cancer growth? Inspired by her father's work as a dermatologist, Maloney had questions about how different neighboring cells may be different (such as those in skin conditions) and whether the unique metabolism of each group of cells could be documented.

By understanding how an enzyme known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) collects and distributes hydrogen throughout the body and the different types of hydrogen isotopes that can be created as a result of cancer entering the body, the research was able to identify significant differences in the rates of certain isotopes in yeast cells.

Fundamentally, this research in its early stages provides an exciting opportunity for researchers—the ability to track cancer growths at an early stage, no matter how they're growing. Speaking on the findings, Maloney noted that "This study adds a whole new layer to medicine, giving us the chance to look at cancer at the atomic level."

What Does the Future Hold?

Research into understanding cancer at an atomic level is, admittedly, still in its early stages. The research being conducted at UC Boulder presents an exciting opportunity for medical researchers and scientists alike. Are there other potential ways that geoscience applications could be taken to understand the world we live in further?

With cancer being one of America's leading causes of death, finding new strategies to assess, treat, and mitigate cancer provides immense promise for those who suffer from the life-changing condition. With this and other research opening the door to individualized, highly specialized medical treatments, it may be possible that in the future, we'll see cancer tackled with a highly targeted and specialized approach rather than with one-size-fits-all methods.

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