
It is recommended that you view the original article and its videos at this link:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/04/18/how-dmso-naturally-eliminates-cancers.aspx?
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DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide)
is a naturally occurring substance that, when used correctly, safely, and rapidly
improves a variety of conditions medicine struggles with — particularly chronic pain. For
example, thousands of studies show DMSO treats a wide range of
Injuries such as sprains, concussions, burns, surgical incisions, and spinal cord
injuries (discussed here).
https://odysee.com/@DoctorMercola:2/DMSO-The-Natural-Cancer-Fighter:
- Strokes, paralysis, many neurological disorders (e.g., Down syndrome and
dementia), and numerous circulatory disorders - How DMSO Naturally Eliminates Cancers
Analysis by A Midwestern Doctor April 18, 2025
Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) effectively treats many ailments, including strokes, tissue
injuries, autoimmunity, and a myriad of skin diseases and challenging infections
DMSO’s unique properties also make it highly suited for both eliminating cancers and
protecting the normal cells from cancer therapies
Hundreds of studies have shown DMSO can transform a wide range of cancerous cells
back into normal cells — something very few other agents are capable of
DMSO strengthens the immune response to cancer and allows the immune system to
recognize and permanently eliminate many different cancers that otherwise evade the
immune system
DMSO is directly toxic to cancerous cells and greatly increases the potency of a wide
range of natural and conventional anticancer agents. This both increases cure rates and
allows lower chemotherapy doses, significantly reducing their toxicity
Chronic pain (e.g., from a bad disc, bursitis, arthritis, or complex regional pain
syndrome), which was discussed here. - Many autoimmune, protein, and contractile disorders such as scleroderma,
amyloidosis, and interstitial cystitis (discussed here). - Head conditions including tinnitus, vision loss, dental problems, and sinusitis
(discussed here). - Internal organ diseases such as pancreatitis, infertility, liver cirrhosis, and
endometriosis (discussed here). - A wide range of skin conditions such as burns, varicose veins, acne, hair loss,
ulcers, skin cancer, and many autoimmune dermatologic diseases (discussed here). - Many challenging infections such as shingles, herpes, chronic ear or dental
infections, and osteomyelitis (discussed here).
Sadly, once the FDA realized the extent to which DMSO would transform medicine, the
agency made the decision to erase it from history. As a result, millions of patients who it
helped and the thousands of studies on its therapeutic potential have been largely
forgotten. Consider for example this 1980 60 Minutes program:
Video Link
Fortunately, because DMSO is effective for a wide range of conditions, it’s caught on like
wildfire over the last six months (e.g., I’ve already received over 2000 reports of
remarkable responses to DMSO, many for a variety of “incurable conditions” ).
DMSO and Cancer
Because of the controversy surrounding DMSO, once its pioneers realized it also treated
cancer, a decision was made to downplay this facet of DMSO as “unproven” cancer cures
are always attacked by the medical system. As a result, DMSO’s anticancer properties
still remain relatively unknown.
In the first part of this series, I presented dozens of studies that show DMSO effectively
treats cancer pain (which is often very challenging to address) and dramatically reduces
many of the complications experienced from radiation therapy and chemotherapy (as it
selectively protects healthy cells from those agents).
Given how debilitating each of those can be for a cancer patient, it is remarkable DMSO
has not been adopted for any of those applications, particularly since addressing those
does not take business from the cancer industry (and if anything would make more
patients want to undergo conventional cancer care).
Note: 65% of oncologists’ revenue comes from chemotherapy drugs (which coincidentally
are by far the most profitable drug market ).
In this article, I will focus on how DMSO eliminates cancer.
Cancer Differentiation
At the start of life, the first cell can become anything, and as it divides, it becomes more
specialized through a process called differentiation. This process is vital in medicine,
especially with stem cells, which can replace damaged cells. Cancer, however, is a
disease of dedifferentiation, in which normal cells lose their structure and begin
dividing uncontrollably.
As such, something that could differentiate cancer cells into normal cells would be
immensely helpful in treating cancer. Unfortunately, conventional medicine only has one
agent like that (all-trans retinoic acid which is only used for a fairly rare blood cancer ).
All of this began in 1971, when a virologist discovered that DMSO could induce
differentiation in erythroleukemia cells at a 2% concentration, making most of them
revert to normal cells. At higher concentrations, DMSO stopped growth and even killed
cancerous cells (and was much less likely to kill mice than those injected with untreated
cancer cells).
Following this, she published a variety of studies that mapped out how this process
occurred, which agents suppressed or enhanced it. She showed that the differentiating
effect persisted long after DMSO was no longer present. Her work in
erythroleukemia was then repeatedly replicated (e.g., I’ve reviewed 62 corroborating
studies, along with 95 more for the related cancer acute myelogenous leukemia ).
Note: DMSO’s ability to differentiate leukemic cells was so well recognized that in 1992, it
was selected for a microgravity experiment on the International Space Station.
By 1983, it was recognized DMSO could differentiate 12 different cancer types, and
now this differentiating capacity has been repeatedly shown for each of the following
cancers: - Blood cancers — Acute promyelocytic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia,
cutaneous erythromyeloleukemia, hairy cell leukemia, histiocytic lymphoma,
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, T-cell leukemia, T-cell lymphoma - Organ cancers — Bladder, brain, breast, colon, esophageal, intestinal,
kidney, liver, lung, prostate, rectal, ovarian, stomach, thyroid - Other cancers — Embryonic carcinoma (into heart cells), fibrosarcoma,
melanoma, nasopharyngeal, rhabdomyosarcomas
Collectively, these studies showed: - DMSO normally differentiated the cancer (it was rare for me to find studies where it
did not) and did so in a dose-dependent fashion (e.g., 0.5% to 2% was often used ).
At higher concentrations (e.g., 1.5%), those changes were often permanent. - Cancer growth, proliferation, and survival in tandem frequently decreased. In
parallel, key tumor suppressing genes increased (e.g., P21, PTEN, and RB ),
many cancer genes were suppressed, and the cancer cells were weakened (e.g.,
with transient DNA strand breaks) or induced into programmed cell death.
As such, I believe it quite likely that if more cancer cell lines or specific cancer proteins
and genes were tested, DMSO would demonstrate anticancer properties in those areas
too.
Note: DMSO has also been repeatedly shown to prevent potent carcinogens from causing
cancer.
Mechanisms of Differentiation
In addition to DMSO positively changing many factors associated with cancer (e.g.,
reducing cancer genes, increasing anticancer proteins and altering cancerous DNA) a
few other mechanisms have also been identified by researchers.
First, tumor cells typically grow chaotically, but adding 1% to 2% DMSO led to a more
organized structure resembling normal cells. Over four days DMSO caused melanoma
cells to reorganize their cytoskeleton, halting their growth. Likewise, in another study,
1% DMSO significantly altered the cellular skeleton of melanoma cells but not regular
cells:
DMSO also affects other structural aspects of cancer cells: - It shifts the cell membrane’s transition temperature making it more gel-like (a trait
shared with other cancer differentiating agents ). - DMSO caused disordered and tightly packed cancer cells to rearrange them
themselves into an ordered parallel orientation like that seen in non-cancerous
tissues.
Note: Polar solvents besides DMSO can also both cause these changes and induce
cancer cell differentiation, suggesting this is a fundamental component of the
differentiation process. - DMSO shrank the cytoplasm of cancerous cells by 23% over nine hours.
- DMSO increased the negatively charged phospholipid content in cancer cell
membranes, enhancing fluidity and improving the cell’s zeta potential (a measure
of its electrical charge that determines the tendency for things to clump together).
Collectively, many of these studies touch upon a longstanding observation that the
transition to cancer is in part due to the electrical charges and the state of the water
within the cells (e.g., it should be in an energy generating liquid crystalline state —
something raising the membrane transition temperature promotes), which is a topic I
have written more about here.
Additionally, DMSO also dissolves a barrier around cancer cells that prevented
chemotherapy drugs from entering them and was found to make cytoskeleton target
chemotherapies 30 to 1000 times more potent.
Note: DMSO also allows chemotherapy to pass through the blood-brain barrier so that
otherwise unreachable brain cancers can be exposed to chemotherapy.
Pleomorphism
One of the forgotten schools of medicine is that microorganisms can assume different
shapes (morphologies) and that particular morphologies can be highly detrimental to
health. For example, previous pioneers of forgotten alternative cancer therapies (e.g.,
Rife and Naessens ) believed these hard to detect organisms caused types of cancers,
and as I showed here, they are also linked to many autoimmune conditions.
A 1967 Russian study tested cancer patients for pleomorphic bacteria, isolating them
from blood samples of patients and those around people who had died from cancer.
They took 59 samples from 53 patients and 17 tumor samples, with most yielding
pleomorphic bacteria, which due to their small size, were highly susceptible to DMSO.
Given that these microorganisms may induce cancerous changes, DMSO’s ability to
eliminate them could also potentially explain its differentiating properties. Likewise, its
ability to eliminate them may explain why DMSO effectively treats so many
autoimmune disorders (as pleomorphic bacteria has been repeatedly detected in the
reactive tissues).
Cancer Growth Inhibition
When DMSO differentiated cancer cells, it also frequently slowed their growth in cultures
or implanted animals in a dose dependent fashion (which was often permanent at
higher concentrations that were far below the toxic dose to normal cells ). For example,
consider this 2014 study, where breast cancer cells were implanted into mice who were
then injected with DMSO or salineIn turn, this phenomenon has been observed in various cancers, including AML, breast
cancer (doing so more effectively than thalidomide), lymphomas, colon cancer,
erythroleukemia, intestinal cancer, liver, lung cancer, melanoma,
nasopharyngeal, rectal cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, sarcomas.
Note: Very low concentrations of DMSO can affect cancer cells (e.g., a 2021 study found
0.0008% DMSO had significant effects on the biochemical activity of cancer cells ).
Additionally, when DMSO differentiates cancer cells, it can also induce programmed cell
death (apoptosis) in them (e.g., in AML, and lymphomas ).
Immune Activation
While DMSO is highly effective at reducing autoimmunity and inflammation within the
body, it does not impair the immune system’s response to cancer, and if anything
enhances it.
A key reason for this is that DMSO achieves what many conventional immunotherapies
aim to do — prevent cancer from evading the immune system, thereby allowing the
cancer to be targeted and eliminated.
This was first shown by a renowned cancer researcher, who found DMSO caused the
immune system to eliminate large rectal HPV warts that were otherwise quite
challenging to treat (e.g., in a 1978 JAMA paper he reported successfully treating 22 of
23 patients ).
Note: Topical DMSO can be effective for a variety of skin lesions, including warts and
cancer.
Much later, a pivotal 2016 study proved it was possible to use DMSO to make a simple
“vaccine against cancer.” It exposed liver cancer cells to 2% DMSO, which temporarily
slowed their growth and permanently changed their gene expression.
These treated cells were then injected into mice and, unlike untreated cancer cells, did
not form tumors. Crucially, the DMSO-treated cells induced an antitumor immunity that
allowed the mice to completely eliminate untreated liver cancer cells.
This treatment also conferred a partial immunity to the mice against certain other
cancers, specifically B16-F10 melanoma cells. The study found that DMSO treatment
increased the activation of cancer-eliminating immune cells (CD4+, CD8+ T cells, and NK
cells). Mice lacking a functional immune system did not respond to this therapy,
confirming the importance of the immune response.
DMSO’s ability to increase immune recognition of cancers may be due to its changing
the exposed antigens or receptors on the cell membrane surface. For example: - DMSO increased the surface expression of lung cancer H-2K and H-2D antigens at
least 100-fold (hence making DMSO aid the immune system in being able to
target the cancer ). In a follow-up study, the authors showed this H-2 change
greatly increased their susceptibility to being eliminated by the immune system (via
H-2-restricted immune lysis). Likewise, DMSO induced surface antigen
expression in melanoma and T-cell lymphoma. - DMSO increased the ability of the spleen (likely its macrophages) to identify and
eliminate cancerous cells, and increased the presence of antitumor macrophages
while decreasing pro-tumor macrophages.
Note: Leukemic cells DMSO differentiates into immune cells have an increased ability to
mount an immune response to cancers.
Cancer Treatment Studies
These cancer fighting properties have also been demonstrated in living organisms. For
example: - A 1967 study induced breast cancers in mice and found that drinking DMSO caused
a small reduction in their rate of occurrence and prevented some of weight loss
caused by the cancers. - A 1989 study of rats with aggressive (implanted) prostate cancers found that 2.5%
oral DMSO significantly slowed the cancer’s growth.
A 2008 MRI study evaluated the microvasculature of mice with implanted tumors
before and after a week course of DMSO. It found DMSO greatly reduced cancer
vascular permeability, which is potentially significant for cancer management as
leaky blood vessels can support rapid irregular growth or metastasis and can
compress surrounding tissues or cause inflammation and sometimes interfere with
the delivery of chemotherapy to those cells.
Note: Many holistic schools of medicine have concluded cancers arise from poor
blood flow to a tissue or poor lymphatic drainage from it. Given DMSO’s remarkable
ability to improve circulation, it is highly possible that this contributes to its ability to
prevent cancer. - A 2011 study found that in mice with experimentally induced Dalton’s lymphoma,
injected DMSO was shown to regress their tumors and upregulate TNFα and p53 in
lymphoma cells, which impaired their metabolic pathways and triggered an
apoptotic pathway (whereas normal white blood cells were unaffected).
Likewise in humans: - A 1992 study conducted by an Iraqi researcher (who’d found DMSO cured a
variety of challenging gastrointestinal conditions ) conducted a controlled trial of
198 patients who’d had surgery for colon cancer (in the sigmoid) that had spread
into the local lymph nodes, and found that the long term administration of oral
DMSO after the electrosurgery significantly improved their 5 year survival. - That researcher also conducted a 1992 controlled trial of 228 patients who’d just
had an uneventful surgery to remove two-thirds of their stomachs (due to stomach
cancer). Daily oral DMSO significantly increased their survival rates in the 160
patients who could be evaluated at 5 years. - A 1999 trial of 25 patients found intravesical DMSO treated bladder cancer.
Additionally, one cancer (multiple myeloma) is characterized by the uncontrolled growth
of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow, which produce abnormal proteins (such
as amyloids) that can overwhelm the body. While amyloidosis is challenging to treat,
there are over 40 studies demonstrating that DMSO prevents amyloid proteins from
clumping together and instead eliminates their deposits from the body (often leading to
a clinical improvement ).
In turn, case reports have found DMSO effectively treated multiple myeloma amyloidosis
in a variety of soft tissues and organs, and in one instance in combination with
chemotherapy to treat the cancer as well.
Conclusion
While history is full of effective medical therapies being largely erased from human
memory, I have always found the DMSO story particularly unbelievable as there was so
much published evidence it worked for a variety of challenging conditions and many
(e.g., including respected congressmen, doctors and academics) fought for decades for
the FDA to permit its use.
This erasure is particularly remarkable in the cancer field as there are hundreds of
studies (including some very recent ones) showing DMSO can effectively achieve many
of key goals in modern cancer treatment research.
Yet for some reason, DMSO exists in a bubble where it’s acknowledged it can create
those anticancer effects as needed in cancer research, but it’s almost never then viewed
as a cancer therapeutic. For example to quote a 2023 review paper on DMSO’s cancer
treating properties:
“Recently, DMSO has been included in biological cancer treatment and several
FDA approved cancer immune therapeutic modalities such as CarT cell
therapy and melanoma drug Mekinist (trametinib DMSO).
However, besides its recognized biological role as a pharmaceutical solvent and
cryoprotectant, there was no mention of DMSO’s possible ability to potentiate
therapeutic activity as a component of these cancer treatments.”
Fortunately, because of its ease of availability (made possible by the 1994 DSHEA Act )
and frequency with which it produces rapid results, drawing attention to DMSO has
allowed it to make a rapid resurgence, and I am hopeful we can make that eventually
allow its benefits to be widely available to cancer patients — particularly since DMSO’s
ability to potentiate natural and conventional cancer treatments completely transforms
the treatment of cancer.
Author’s Note: This is an abridged version of a longer article that reviews the point
mentioned here in more detail and reviews how DMSO reduces cancer pain, the
complications of radiation therapy and chemotherapy and how it greatly enhances the
effectiveness of both conventional and natural cancer therapies. That article (along with
guidance for using DMSO) can be read here.
A Note from Dr. Mercola About the Author
A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician from the Midwest and a
longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate AMD’s exceptional insight on a wide range
of topics and am grateful to share it. I also respect AMD’s desire to remain anonymous
since AMD is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD’s work, be
sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.
Sources and References
See all references provioded in original document (link above)
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