Dichloroacetate against cancer - No Toxicity or Side Effects!
Wow, this magic dichloroacetate (DCA) sounds like a miracle anti-cancer drug.
1. Cheap, inexpensive
2. No known toxicity or side effects in human as of today
3. Normal cells not affected.
4. Small molecule, therefore cross blood-brain barrier to target brain tumors
5. One drug for all sorts of malignancy
Interview videos on Dr. Evangelos Michelakis (the principle investigator on DCA) at the end of this article.
January 16, 2007 - Edmonton - University of Alberta researchers believe an odourless, colourless, inexpensive, relatively non-toxic molecule may soon be used as an effective treatment for many forms of cancer.
Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a professor at the U of A Department of Medicine, has shown that dichloroacetate (DCA) causes regression in several cancers, including lung, breast and brain tumors.
Michelakis and his colleagues, including post-doctoral fellow Dr. Sebastian Bonnet, have published the results of their research in the journal Cancer Cell.
Scientists and doctors have used DCA for decades to treat children with inborn errors of metabolism due to mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria, the energy producing units in cells, have been connected with cancer since the 1930s, when researchers first noticed that these organelles dysfunction when cancer is present.
Until recently, researchers believed that cancer-affected mitochondria are permanently damaged and that this damage is the result, not the cause, of the cancer. But Michelakis, a cardiologist, questioned this belief and began testing DCA, which activates a critical mitochondrial enzyme, as a way to “revive” cancer-affected mitochondria.
The results astounded him.
Michelakis, the Canada Research Chair in Pulmonary Hypertension and director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program with the Capital Health Authority, and his colleagues found that DCA normalized the mitochondrial function in many cancers, showing that their function was actively suppressed by the cancer but was not permanently damaged by it.
More importantly, they found that the normalization of mitochondrial function resulted in a significant decrease in tumor growth both in test tubes and in animal models. Also, they noted that DCA, unlike most currently used chemotherapies, did not have any effects on normal, non-cancerous tissues.
“I think DCA can be selective for cancer because it attacks a fundamental process in cancer development that is unique to cancer cells,” Michelakis said. “Cancer cells actively suppress their mitochondria, which alters their metabolism, and this appears to offer cancer cells a significant advantage in growth compared to normal cells, as well as protection from many standard chemotherapies. Because mitochondria regulate cell death - or apoptosis - cancer cells can thus achieve resistance to apoptosis, and this appears to be reversed by DCA.”
“One of the really exciting things about this compound is that it might be able to treat many different forms of cancer, because all forms of cancer suppress mitochondrial function; in fact, this is why most cancers can be detected by tests like PET (positron emission tomography), which detects the unique metabolic profile of cancer compared to normal cells,” added Michelakis.Another encouraging thing about DCA is that, being so small, it is easily absorbed in the body, and, after oral intake, it can reach areas in the body that other drugs cannot, making it possible to treat brain cancers, for example.
Also, because DCA has been used in both healthy people and sick patients with mitochondrial diseases, researchers already know that it is a relatively non-toxic molecule that can be immediately tested in patients with cancer.
Furthermore, the DCA compound is not patented or owned by any pharmaceutical company, and, therefore, would likely be an inexpensive drug to administer, Michelakis added.
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Read more on: ualberta.ca
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