Abstract There is increasing evidence that the heavy isotope of hydrogen, deuterium (D), has a pivotal role in cell signalling and that its depletion through the replacement of normal drinking water with deuterium-depleted water (DDW) results in tumour necrosis. The impact of D–depletion on breast cancer outcome was studied retrospectively. The normal daily water intake (150 ppm D) of 232 breast cancer patients was replaced with DDW (65-105 ppm D) for at least 91 days, without altering conventional treatment regimens. According to staging at initial diagnosis, patients with early stage breast cancer (n=158) achieved a median survival time (MST) of 217 months (18.1 years), compared with 52 months (4.3 years) in patients with advanced disease (n=74). The MST is pending in the subgroup of patients who were in remission at the start of DDW treatment; only one out of 48 patients died during the cumulative follow-up period of 221.1 years. Although single DDW treatment was effective, an outstandingly long MST of 24.4 years was attained in the subgroup of 53 patients who were treated with DDW at least twice. In comparison with published data, DDW treatment in combination with or as an extension of conventional therapies noticeably prolonged MST in certain subgroups of breast cancer patients. D-depletion may also be a highly effective therapy for preventing the recurrence of breast cancer. Furthermore, the method is safe and can be easily integrated into standard treatment regimens for breast cancer.
Keywords: deuterium depletion; deuterium-depleted water; breast cancer; retrospective study; median survival time; early stage breast cancer; advanced disease

Abstract Background: The objective of this study is to provide certain data on clinical outcomes and their predictors of traditional maximum androgen blockade (MAB) in prostate cancer with bone metastasis. Methods: Subjects were patients with prostate adenocarcinoma with bone metastasis initiated to treat with MAB as a primary treatment without any local therapy at our hospital between January 2003 and December 2010. Time to prostate specific antigen (PSA) progression, overall survival (OS) time, and association of clinical factors and outcomes were retrospectively evaluated. Results: A total of 57 patients were evaluable. The median age was 70 years. The median primary PSA was 203 ng/ml. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists had been administered in 96.5% of the patients. Bicalutamide had been chosen in 89.4 % of the patients as the initial antiandrogen. The median time to PSA progression with MAB was 11.3 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.4 to 13.0). The median OS was 47.3 months (95% CI, 30.7 to 81.0). Gleason score 9 or greater, decline of PSA level equal to or higher than 1.0 ng/ml with MAB, and time to PSA nadir equal to or shorter than six months after initiation of MAB were independent risk factors for time to PSA progression (P=0.010, P=0.005, and P=0.001; respectively). Time to PSA nadir longer than six months was the only independent predictor for longer OS (HR, 0.255 [95% CI, 0.109 to 0.597]; P=0.002). Conclusions: Initial time to PSA nadir should be emphasized for clinical outcome analyses in future studies on prostate cancer with bone metastasis.
Keywords: androgen-deprivation therapy; bone metastasis; maximum androgen blockade; prognostic factor; prostate cancer; prostate-specific antigen