Recent Hydrogen and Cancer Research

“Overall, H2 reduces the risk of life style-related oxidative stress by reacting with strong reactive oxygen/nitrogen species in cell-free reactions. It is easily to apply H2 in cases of oxidative stress, inflammation and tumors. Due to the lack of adverse effects and the high efficacy for the majority of pathogenic statuses involved, H2 gas, H2 water and HS are increasingly being accepted as promising candidates for therapeutic approaches. We hypothesize that H2 gas inhalation and oral administration of H2 water could protect against inflammation in oxidative stress-related cancer, and thus improve the anti-tumor effect in the clinical management of cancer.”

An in vivo study demonstrated that 6 weeks of hydrogen inhalation significantly inhibited tumor growth, as evidenced by decreased mean tumor volume (32.30%) and Ki67 expression (30.00%). Hydrogen treatment decreased the expression of CD34 (74.00%) demonstrating its anti-angiogenesis effects. The in vitro study showed that hydrogen treatment significantly inhibits cancer cell proliferation, invasion, migration and colony formation both in Hs38.T and PA-1 cells. An important finding in this study was that molecular hydrogen could also markedly inhibit sphere-forming ability of both PA-1 and Hs38.T cells.

H2 is a small molecule that can easily dissipate throughout the body and cells; thus, it may be a safe and effective antioxidant for inflammatory diseases and cancer, since ROS usually initiates tumor progression. Treatment with H2 may involve correction of the oxidative/anti-oxidative imbalance and suppression of inflammatory mediators.

“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.”