Protective effect of hydrogen-rich water on liver function of colorectal cancer patients treated with mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy

Abstract

Abstract. The present study was conducted to investigate the protective effect of hydrogen-rich water on the liver function of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients treated with mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy. A controlled, randomized, single-blind clinical trial was designed. A total of 152 patients with CRC were recruited by the Department of Oncology of Taishan Hospital (Taian, China) between June 2010 and February 2016, among whom 146 met the inclusion criteria. Subsequently, 144 patients were randomized into the treatment (n=80) and placebo (n=64) groups. At the end of the study, 76 patients in the hydrogen treatment group and 60 patients in the placebo group were included in the final analysis. The changes in liver function after the chemotherapy, such as altered levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase, indirect bilirubin (IBIL) and direct bilirubin, were observed. The damaging effects of the mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy on liver function were mainly represented by increased ALT, AST and IBIL levels. The hydrogen-rich water group exhibited no significant differences in liver function before and after treatment, whereas the placebo group exhibited significantly elevated levels of ALT, AST and IBIL. Thus, hydrogen-rich water appeared to alleviate the mFOLFOX6-related liver injury.

Molecular hydrogen suppresses glioblastoma growth via inducing the glioma stem-like cell differentiation

“…The effects of molecular hydrogen on cancer have been reported in several types of tumors including skin squamous cell carcinomas [7], lung cancer [9, 10], ovarian cancer [11], thymic lymphoma [12], liver tumors [13, 17], renal cell carcinoma [14], and colon cancer [16, 18]. However, whether molecular hydrogen has an anti-tumor effect on GBM has remained unknown.…”

Hydrogen Gas in Cancer Treatment

“…By regulating ROS, hydrogen gas may act as an adjuvant regimen to reduce the adverse effects in cancer treatment while at the same time doesn't abrogate the cytotoxicity of other therapy, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy (48, 51). Interestingly, due the over-produced ROS in cancer cells (38), the administration of hydrogen gas may lower the ROS level at the beginning, but it provokes much more ROS production as a result of compensation effect, leading to the killing of cancer cells (52).…”

Hydrogen: An Endogenous Regulator of Liver Homeostasis

“…H 2 also had the protective effects on chronic-plus-binge ethanol (EtOH) feeding-induced liver injury, possibly by inducing acyl ghrelin to suppress the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-a and IL-6 and induce the expression of IL-10 and IL-22, thus activating antioxidant enzymes against oxidative stress (Lin et al, 2017). In human beings, drinking H 2 rich water improved lipids and glucose metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance (Kajiyama et al, 2008), reduced liver fat accumulation in overweight patients suffering from mild-to-moderate NAFLD (Korovljev et al, 2019), improved liver function and reduced viral load in patients with chronic hepatitis B (Xia et al, 2013), attenuated biological reaction to radiation-induced oxidative stress without compromising antitumor effects in patients with liver tumors (Kang et al, 2011), and alleviated liver injury of colorectal cancer patients treated with mFOLFOX6 chemotherapy (Yang et al, 2017). Therefore, exogenous H 2 has the abilities to regulate hepatic glucose and lipids metabolism, attenuate virus and chemotherapy related liver injuries, and improve I/R or drugs-induced hepatic inflammation and oxidative stresses.…”