A space mission in 2020 seeks to use zero gravity to treat some of the toughest types of cancer.

In his report published by Big Think, the American author Paul Ratner said that multiple research, including a research mission to the International Space Station, seeks to demonstrate that zero gravity is able to fight cancer.

In this regard, Joshua Chow, a biomedical engineer from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, has conducted successful experiments in a laboratory environment, to demonstrate that zero gravity is able to kill cancer cells.

The writer mentioned that Zhu's work is looking to identify the sensors in which cancer cells find each other to grow and turn into tumors within the body. Chu believes that these receptors depend on gravity, and once removed they can fight cancer, because cells will not be able to "sense" some of them.

To study this curriculum further, a graduate student working with Chu established Australia's first microgravity device.

Minor gravity
The author stated that the device allowed Chu's team to investigate how microgravity affected various diseases, and scientists also reported that it was hugely effective so far in eliminating cancer cells.

On this, Zhou said, "When the device was placed in a microgravity environment, approximately 80% to 90% of the cells in the four different types of cancer we tested, ovarian, breast, nose and lung, were defective."

Usually the most difficult types of cancer are ovarian, breast, nose and lung cancer, but Chu's experiments in which no medications were used succeeded in killing such cells or making them "float because they are no longer able to withstand."

In early 2020, Cho and his team will be able to test their approach to space, by launching a specially designed unit with the help of SpaceX, and the four types of cancer cells will be carried on board. Once launched, scientists will be able to observe the unit from Earth via the data summary.

The experiment is scheduled to continue for seven days, after which the cells will freeze and be sent back to Earth after 21 days aboard a shuttle, and further studies will be conducted once the cells return to the laboratory on the ground.

The author mentioned that Cho's vision is to develop a drug that patients can take while they are on the ground instead of traveling to space for treatment, and hopes to use this treatment to "trick" cancer cells to behave as if they are in space, and Cho believes that this type of treatment may not be " Magic Therapy "works automatically, but in cooperation with existing therapies.

Weightlessness
Zhu's research is not the only one in this field, as nine research projects will study the effects of weightlessness on cancer on board the new China Space Station slated to open in 2022.

One of these projects is "Oncology in Space", and is centered around research into how microgravity and cosmic radiation affect tumor growth.

Tricia La Rose, lead researcher for the project, explained, "The plan is to send organic stimulants of 3D stem cells from healthy and cancerous tissues from the same person to space. We will study genetic mutations and look at how the cell's DNA is affected by weightlessness and cosmic radiation."

The author added that scientists in other countries are also seeking to take advantage of gravity to treat cancer. In 2017, a German team led by Professor Daniela Grimm studied the effects of space on thyroid cancer cells.