Does ozone therapy normalize the cellular redox balance? Implications for therapy of human immunodeficiency virus infection and several other diseases.

The role of ozone on earth is controversial, as in the stratosphere it is protective against excessive ultra violet irradiation, and in the troposphere it is toxic for animals and plants. The effectiveness of ozone against pathogens is well recognized and ozone appears to be the best agent for sterilization of water. In spite of this, the use of ozone in medicine has been overlooked or despised, mostly because it has been either misused or used without appropriate controls. Studies carried out in our laboratory have revealed that ozone can display relevant biological effects and that, having defined its therapeutic index, can become an important and reliable drug for the treatment of several diseases. An exciting new aspect is that ozone, being a strong oxidizer, can stimulate the increase of cellular anti-oxidant enzymes, eventually inhibiting the oxidative stress.