Hydrogen gas therapy induced shrinkage of metastatic gallbladder cancer: A case report

Abstract

BACKGROUND We present the case of a 72-year-old female patient with gallbladder cancer (GBC) who developed in situ recurrence and liver metastases 9 mo after irreversible electroporation ablation and oral tegafur (a fluoropyrimidine derivative) chemotherapy, which failed to control the progression of the disease. The patient further developed metastases in the lymph nodes around the head of the pancreas. The patient had severe anemia, requiring weekly blood transfusions. The gallbladder tumor invaded the descending part of the duodenum, causing intestinal leakage and hepatic colonic adhesion. CASE SUMMARY The patient refused other treatments and began daily hydrogen inhalation therapy. After 1 mo of treatment, the gallbladder and liver tumors continued to progress, and intestinal obstruction occurred. After continuous hydrogen therapy and symptomatic treatments including gastrointestinal decompression and intravenous nutrition support, the intestinal obstruction was gradually relieved. Three months after hydrogen therapy, the metastases in the abdominal cavity gradually reduced in size, her anemia and hypoalbuminemia were corrected, lymphocyte and tumor marker levels returned to normal, and the patient was able to resume normal life. CONCLUSION This is the first report of an efficacy and safety study about hydrogen therapy in patient with metastatic GBC and a critical general condition, who has remained stable for more than 4 months.

Hydrogen inhibits the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer cells by modulating lncRNA MALAT1/miR-124-3p/EZH2 axis

“…Inhalation of H 2 drastically inhibited tumor growth in mouse xenografted with BGC-823 cells (p < 0.01, H 2 vs. Ctrl) (Fig. 7 ), which was consistent with clinical observation of different cancers [ 23 , 25 ]. Overexpression of lncRNA MALAT1 partially suppressed H 2 caused inhibition of tumor growth whereas miR-124-3p counteracted the effect of lncR MALAT1 (Fig.…”

“…As hydrogen gas has been shown to inhibit cancer progression [ 25 ] and lung cancer cell proliferation [ 26 ], we first examined whether it could impact the proliferation of gastric cancer cells. After 24 h exposure to hydrogen gas, the viable MGC-803 and BGC-823 cells were reduced more than 20% compared to normally cultured ones (Fig.…”

“…Drinking hydrogen-rich water for 6 weeks reduced reactive oxygen metabolites in the blood, maintained blood oxidation potential, improved the quality of life of malignant liver cancer patients after radiotherapy [ 24 ]. Daily inhalation of hydrogen for 3 month resulted in the shrinkage of metastatic gallbladder cancer and improve of quality of life [ 25 ]. This study aims to explore the effects of hydrogen gas on gastric cancer cells and the underlying molecular mechanism.…”

Suppression of autophagy facilitates hydrogen gas‑mediated lung cancer cell apoptosis

“…Increasing evidence has revealed that H 2 not only improved the side effects induced by chemotherapeutics, but also inhibited cancer growth (22)(23)(24). In addition, Chen et al (25) reported that H 2 treatment reduced the metastases size in the abdominal cavity, improved anemia and hypoalbuminemia and gradually returned the lymphocyte and tumor marker levels, including CA19-9, α fetoprotein and carcinoembryonic antigen to normal. In our previous study, it was found that H 2 treatment effectively inhibited lung cancer cell growth and induced cell apoptosis by targeting the structural maintenance of chromosomes 3 gene in a dose-dependent manner, with no side effects on the non-tumor burdened mice (6).…”

Hydrogen: An Endogenous Regulator of Liver Homeostasis

“…Thus, inhalation of H 2 gas markedly suppressed focal ischemia and reperfusion (I/R)-induced brain injury in rats by buffering the effects of oxidative stress. From then on, researchers have extensively investigated the functions and mechanisms of H 2 , studies indicated that supplement of exogenous H 2 has the potential abilities to protect against acute or chronic damage of tissues or organs, including brain, heart, blood vessel, lung, stomach, intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, kidney, testis, ovary, breast, eye, ear, bones, skin, et al (Guo et al, 2013;Sun et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2016a;Zhang et al, 2016b;Ge et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017;Frajese et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2018b;Chen et al, 2019;Tan et al, 2019;Tao et al, 2019). H 2 dissolved in medium protected PC12 cells against cell death in a dose-dependent manner, as that H 2 > 25 mM had significant anti-oxidative effect (Ohsawa et al, 2007).…”