The role of naturally occurring D in living organisms has been examined by using deuterium-depleted water (30-40 ppm D) instead of water containing the natural abundance of D (150 ppm). The deuterium-depleted water significantly decreased the growth rate of the L929 fibroblast cell line, and also inhibited the tumor growth in xenotransplanted mice. Eighty days after transplantation in 10 (59%) out of 17 tumorous mice the tumor, after having grown, regressed and then disappeared. We suggest that the naturally occurring D has a central role in signal transduction involved in cell cycle regulation.

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The naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen (1H), deuterium (2H), could have an important biological role. Deuterium depleted water delays tumor progression in mice, dogs, cats and humans. Hydratase enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle control cell growth and deplete deuterium from redox cofactors, fatty acids and DNA, which undergo hydride ion and hydrogen atom transfer reactions. A model is proposed that emphasizes the terminal complex of mitochondrial electron transport chain reducing molecular oxygen to deuterium depleted water (DDW); this affects gluconeogenesis as well as fatty acid oxidation. In the former, the DDW is thought to diminish the deuteration of sugar-phosphates in the DNA backbone, helping to preserve stability of hydrogen bond networks, possibly protecting against aneuploidy and resisting strand breaks, occurring upon exposure to radiation and certain anticancer chemotherapeutics. DDW is proposed here to link cancer prevention and treatment using natural ketogenic diets, low deuterium drinking water, as well as DDW production as the mitochondrial downstream mechanism of targeted anti-cancer drugs such as Avastin and Glivec. The role of 2H in biology is a potential missing link to the elusive cancer puzzle seemingly correlated with cancer epidemiology in western populations as a result of excessive 2H loading from processed carbohydrate intake in place of natural fat consumption.

Although advances in cancer therapies continue to develop, the shortness of the survival of lung cancer patients is still disappointing. Therefore, finding new adjuvant strategies is within the focus of cancer cure. Based on observations that deuterium depletion inhibits the growth of cancer cell lines and suppresses certain proto-oncogenes, we have conducted a clinical study in 129 patients with small cell and nonsmall cell lung cancers who consumed deuterium-depleted drinking water (DDW) as a nontoxic agent in addition to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Median survival time (MST) was 25.9 mo in males and 74.1 mo in female patients; the difference between genders was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Median survival of subjects with brain metastasis was 27.1 mo. Cumulative 5-yr survival probabilities were 19%, 52%, and 33% in males, females, and all patients with brain metastasis, respectively. Gene expression analysis in mouse lung indicated that DDW attenuates 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced expression of Bcl2, Kras, and Myc in females. In conclusion, DDW counteracts the DMBA-induced overexpression of Bcl2, Kras and Myc genes in mouse lung, and it may extend survival of lung cancer patients as a nontoxic anticancer dietary supplement, especially for women with tumors overexpressing cancer-related genes, because MST of DDW-consuming group was 2–4 times longer than it is generally observed in lung cancer patients.