This study provides the first evidence that severe intermittent hypoxia (IH), mimicking obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), increases spontaneous tumorigenesis. Aged mice were exposed to normoxia, mild IH, or severe IH for three months. The group subjected to severe IH showed a significantly higher overall incidence of tumours and a marked increase in lung tumours compared to the control group. Mild IH had no significant effect. The findings suggest that OSA-related hypoxia may promote the development of new cancers, offering a new perspective for clinical data linking OSA to increased cancer incidence.
