Cancer, deuterium, and gut microbes: A novel perspective

Deuterium is a natural isotope of hydrogen, containing a neutron as well as a proton, which makes it twice as heavy as hydrogen. In this paper, we develop a theoretical argument that human metabolism strives to minimize the amount of deuterium in mitochondrial water, because it causes a stutter in ATPase pumps, introducing excess reactive oxygen species and reduced ATP production. Gut microbes produce hydrogen gas that is 80 % depleted in deuterium (deupleted). This gas is recycled into organic matter that supplies deupleted nutrients to the host, such as acetate, butyrate, and choline. Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with many chronic diseases, most notably, cancer. Dehydrogenases, through proton tunneling, typically have a high deuterium kinetic isotope effect (KIE), and they supply deupleted protons to the ATPase pumps via NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) synthesis. We propose that a tumor may arise as a consequence of mitochondrial stress in immune cells due to excess deuterium, and that the tumor microenvironment can support immune cell recovery from mitochondrial dysfunction. Cancer cells alter protein expression to support deuterium sequestration through membrane-bound vesicular ATPase, and they release deupleted nutrients, mainly lactate, into the extracellular milieu and the circulation. Deuterium depleted water (DDW) has been shown to prolong life in cancer patients. An organic high fat diet rich in B vitamins, especially niacin, riboflavin, and folate, augmented with natural prebiotics and probiotics, supports deuterium homeostasis and likely protects from cancer.