In the early 1990s, it has been discovered, that decreasing the deuterium (heavy isotope of hydrogen) concentration of the body below normal physiological level, it delays the progression of several types of cancer in mice and prolongs their survival [Somlyai et al., FEBS Lett. (1993) 317, 1-4]. Depletion of body deuterium (D) can simply be achieved by consumption or prolonged administration of deuterium-depleted water (DDW) and nutrients deficient in D. It was therefore postulated that D-depletion would have therapeutic use in patients with cancer and other neoplastic diseases. In subsequent toxicology studies DDW appeared to be completely safe and non-toxic when given to mice in place of regular water for several months. Following preclinical safety and efficacy studies, a Phase II double blind randomized clinical trial was initiated to evaluate the potential usefulness of therapeutic efficacy and safety of DDW in patients with prostate tumor.

It was recognized that the shortage of deuterium can cause a significant change in cell processes, that followed. The most important outcome of the research carried out with DDW was that several independent experiments supported the findings that the tumorous cells are extremely sensitive to the withdrawal of D. Deuterium Depletion is a completely original approach to inhibit the growth of cancer cells in the body. The core of the invention is a new therapeutic modality using DDW, a novel tool of submolecular medicine for the treatment and prevention of cancer. Based on the research and development that has been conducted by HYD Ltd. since 1993, it is now evident that Deuterium has a key role in cell metabolism. There is conclusive evidence that the application of DDW causes a delay of cell growth of tumors in tissue culture. In animal experiments, DDW slowed down, halted or reversed the growth of tumors originating from malignant (neoplastic) cell lines of human origin, in immunosuppressed mice and spontenous tumors of cats and dogs. The molecular mechanism of the anticancer activity of deuterium depletion is not fully understood. Recent results show that depletion of deuterium induces changes in the expression of genes, which play an already recognized role in the pathology of most cancer types [Gyöngyi and Somlyai, In vivo (2000) 14:437-440].