DMSO: The Forgotten Therapy That’s Turning Heads in Cancer Research

As the old saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” And I can testify to that.

Some 40 years ago when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma, I had no clue about all the alternative treatments that were out there. There was no internet, no Google search. If it hadn’t been for an old friend who showed up with a newspaper clipping—about actor Dirk Benedict beating cancer with a special diet—I might have stayed on the conventional path.

I was lying there in that hospital bed, desperate for answers, and not knowing there were other options. That article planted a seed. It gave me something I hadn’t had until that moment: hope.

Three Knocks At My Door

That first knock at my door was so powerful, I ended up writing about it in Chapter 3 of my book, I Used to Have Cancer. I was fortunate to have not just one, but three people visit me in that hospital room—each one bringing information that would change the course of my life.

The first was Ronnie Davidge, a college friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in over seven years. He came with some papers in his hand. An article that told me about a particular diet I had never heard of, and would probably never have discovered on my own. The rest is history.

Like I say, you don’t know what you don’t know.

I went along with mainstream medicine… until I couldn’t any longer

In my case, mainstream medicine failed. In fact, it nearly killed me.

That experience changed everything. It forced me to look beyond the surface. To dig. To ask harder questions. And ultimately, to take my healing into my own hands.

I walked—more like crawled—out of the hospital at 2 in the morning. That moment marked a turning point in my life. You can read more about it in Chapter 4 of my book, “Two O’Clock in the Morning.” It wasn’t just about leaving a building—it was about leaving behind a system that no longer had answers for me.

That’s why I pay attention when therapies like DMSO—ones that have been studied, used, and quietly respected for years—start gaining traction again… Some of the most powerful tools in healing don’t come from a billion-dollar ad campaign. They come from persistence, research, and keeping an open mind.

That’s why I founded the Templeton Wellness Foundation. To help others find the options I didn’t know I had. And to make sure that safe, promising therapies—like DMSO—don’t stay buried in obscurity just because they aren’t profitable.

About DMSO

DMSO is one of the only compounds we know of that can carry other substances directly into cells without damaging them. That alone makes it unique. But there’s more.

In cancer care, DMSO appears to offer two key advantages:

It enhances the effectiveness of medications and nutrients by delivering them deeper into tissues.
It may protect healthy cells from the damaging effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

That second part is especially important. If we can reduce side effects without sacrificing treatment outcomes, that’s a major win.

The Research So Far

There’s no shortage of theories in alternative health—but DMSO isn’t one of them. It’s supported by real studies.

A 2020 study in The FASEB Journal found that DMSO slowed the growth of leukemia and epithelial cancer cells.
PLOS ONE researchers showed that DMSO boosted HLJ1, a natural tumor-suppressing protein, reducing cancer cell migration.
A study in PubMed Central demonstrated that DMSO-treated tumor cells could actually trigger the immune system to recognize and attack them.
And multiple studies suggest that DMSO reduces toxicity from chemotherapy and radiation—while making those treatments more effective at lower doses.

This isn’t fringe science. It’s just science that never got the funding to go mainstream.

So Why Hasn’t It Gone Mainstream?

The truth is that medicine isn’t just about healing—it’s also about economics.

DMSO couldn’t be patented. That meant no exclusivity, no blockbuster profits, and no incentive for pharmaceutical companies to pursue it. Without funding, large-scale trials were off the table. And without those trials, it never got the official stamp of approval that pushes therapies into everyday practice. So DMSO faded into the background. Not because it didn’t work—but because there was no money in proving that it did.

Thinking About Trying DMSO?

If DMSO has sparked your interest, a word of caution: purity matters. Because it penetrates the skin so easily, DMSO will carry anything it touches—including toxins or contaminants—straight into your bloodstream. This is not something you want to buy casually off the internet and experiment with on your own.

Here’s what I recommend:

Talk with a qualified integrative practitioner—someone trained in using DMSO properly.
Use pharmaceutical-grade DMSO only, and only with expert guidance.
Be wary of hype. It’s not a miracle drug. It’s a powerful tool—when used correctly.

Why We’re Talking About It

At the Templeton Wellness Foundation, our mission is to empower people with credible, well-researched information about cancer and healing. We don’t promote trends. We shine a light on therapies with real potential—especially the ones that have been overlooked, dismissed, or forgotten.

DMSO may not be for everyone. But it’s safe when used appropriately. It’s affordable. And the science behind it is real. For a therapy that’s flown under the radar for so long, it may finally be time to give DMSO the attention it deserves.

Resources

Duman-Scheel, Molly, et al. “DMSO Inhibits Human Cancer Cells and Downregulates the Expression of CDK2 and Cyclin A.” The FASEB Journal 34, S1 (2020). https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.03158.

Wang, Chien-Chang, Shih-Yu Lin, Ya-Huei Lai, Yu-Jen Liu, Yu-Li Hsu, and Jenn-Jhy Tseng. “Dimethyl Sulfoxide Promotes the Multiple Functions of the Tumor Suppressor HLJ1 through Activator Protein-1 Activation in NSCLC Cells.” PLOS ONE 7, no. 4 (2012): e33772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033772.

Kusumoto, Yuji, et al. “Altered Hepa1-6 Cells by Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) Induce Anti-Tumor Immunity in Vivo.” PLoS ONE 11, no. 6 (2016): e0157196. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4891044/.

Sivakumar, S., M. Tripathi, E. Henneberry, F. A. Beland, and D. A. Delker. “DMSO Inhibits Human Cancer Cells and Downregulates the Expression of CDK2 and Cyclin A.” The FASEB Journal 34, no. S1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.03158.

Wang, Chi-Chung, Sheng-Yi Lin, Yi-Hua Lai, Ya-Jung Liu, Yuan-Lin Hsu, and Jeremy J. W. Chen. “Dimethyl Sulfoxide Promotes the Multiple Functions of the Tumor Suppressor HLJ1 through Activator Protein-1 Activation in NSCLC Cells.” PLOS ONE 7, no. 4 (2012): e33772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033772.

Jiang, Zhengyu, Huan Zhang, Yuxin Wang, Bin Yu, Chao Wang, Chunyan Liu, Jun Lu, et al. “Altered Hepa1-6 Cells by Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO)-Treatment Induce Anti-Tumor Immunity In Vivo.” Oncotarget 7, no. 8 (2016): 9340–9352. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.7009.