This article concerns Sodium Dichloroacetate, or DCA, which has shown clear potential as an alternative cancer treatment, according to researchers at both the University of Alberta and the University of Florida; in particular, DCA has been used in a number of trials with people suffering from brain cancer, or glioblastoma, GBM.
The American National Cancer Institute describes it as follows: The sodium salt of dichloroacetic acid with potential antineoplastic activity. The dichloroacetate ion inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, resulting in the inhibition of glycolysis and a decrease in lactate production. This agent may stimulate apoptosis in cancer cells by restoring normal mitochondrial-induced apoptotic signalling.
Clinical Trials for DCA and cancer
Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a Professor at the University of Alberta has shown that DCA can reboot mitochondria, turning them back on and allowing the cancer cell temporarily to return to ’normal’, when it recognises it has a problem and promotes cell death! Indeed, he has found that DCA can cause increased cancer cell death in almost all cancers, and can achieve this by simple addition of the compound to your drinking water. Of particular interest is his preliminary work with brain cancer.
One of the first studies was in 2010, when 5 people with brain cancer (glioblastoma) and a dismal prognosis, were treated with DCA and their improvement led researchers to believe there seemed great potential in the results.
Furthermore, the safety of DCA was evaluated by researchers at the University of Florida.
Suddenly, DCA, the sodium salt of dichloroacetate, was sold on many Internet sites as it is a cheap chemical compound. The AntiCancer Fund in the USA then commissioned two expert researchers (Dr. Erin Dunbar and Dr. Peter Stacpoole) of the University of Florida to conduct a phase I clinical trial amongst 15 subjects with brain tumours to discover dosage levels and possible side-effects. The finding was that dosage depended upon the individual’s personal ability to break down DCA. It was not a trial to study effectiveness, even though it lasted almost 5 years. Now, several groups are looking to fund the development of DCA and so continue with clinical trials.
DCA already has clinical trials behind it to support its use in cardiac problems and heart disease. It has also been used for 30 years with children who have mitochondrial problems, so its action is reasonably well-known. However, at present time, there is limited evidence (in the form of clinical trials) that it is effective as a cancer cure.
At present time the NCI lists three clinical trials using DCA:
1. examines DCA on its own with patients with solid tumours
2. with patients with head and neck cancers
3. Studies effects in conjunction with cisplatin and radiotherapy for head and neck cancers.
Other studies include
* Laboratory research showing DCA improves the performance of sorafenib with liver cancer (1)
* Laboratory research showing DCA suppresses a compound called HIF1alpha which helps cancer cells grow a blood supply (2)
* Laboratory research showing DCA can suppress multiple myeloma cell growth and enhances Bortezomib in animals (3)
Glycolysis and damaged mitochondria
As is so often the case in cancer, the precise nature of action of DCA is not 100 per cent clear. In 1931 Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for explaining that the normal energy production mechanism of a healthy cell, which involves burning carbohydrate in the presence of oxygen, was lost in a cancer cell. He proposed that the power stations, or mitochondria, lost control of the energy production system as levels of oxygen decreased in the cell and, instead, a very inefficient system of energy production, called glycolysis, started to occur outside the mitochondria and in the cytoplasm of the cell, through fermentation. The main waste product of this process is a form of lactic acid.
This decline in oxygen inside the cell was considered by Warburg to be the primary cause of cancer. Warburg also noted that even when cellular oxygen levels started to increase, it did not follow that the mitochondria kicked back into action and the glycolysis ceased. This he called the Warburg effect: the ability of cancer cells to continue with glycolysis even as oxygen levels rose.
A decade or more later, Hans Krebs showed the complex 26 step system that healthy cells use - with six steps in the cytoplasm preparing the fuel, and twenty in the mitochondria to efficiently burn this fuel. He concluded that glycolysis (the six step, low energy producing system) resulted because of damage to the mitochondria themselves. Hence, even when oxygen levels were increased, they still would not work.
DCA turns cancer mitochondria back on
In a healthy cell, when the mitochondria spot that something is going wrong in the cell, they initiate the suicide of the cell, which in biochemical terms is called apoptosis.
This cannot happen with cancer cells; the mitochondria are shut down and so cancer cells are almost immortal. This effect extends to attacks by chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy, and explains why these treatments become ineffective on cancer cells, whilst causing damage to healthy cells!
Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a professor at the University of Alberta Department of Medicine, has shown that dichloroacetate can turn the mitochondria of cancer cells back on, allowing them to spot the faults in the cell and commit suicide.
Michelakis and his team discovered in their research that DCA is very effective in reactivating the mitochondria of cancer cells. Michelakis reports that "The mitochondria are so sensitive to DCA that just 5 minutes of exposure reactivates them for 48 hours".
Research to date has indicated that DCA can cause regression in several cancers, including breast, lung, and brain tumours.
In one study with 5 people all having glioblastoma brain cancer, Michelakis gave the DCA along with standard radiotherapy, surgery and temozolomide and 4 of the 5 patients were alive 18 months later. When the researchers looked at the tumour samples they found that the mitochondria had indeed been turned back on.
In another study with 49 glioblastoma patients, they confirmed that DCA could turn mitochondria back on, when looking at tumour samples.
Current uses of DCA
DCA is a colourless, odourless, inexpensive compound. It is an off-patent, approved drug.
Hitherto, according to the American Cancer Society, the only medical use is for removing warts and other skin growths. Researchers have also tested it on humans for decreasing lactic acidosis (lactic acid buildup), hypertension and metabolic diseases.
There are some side-effects like nerve reactions but apparently the side-effects stop as soon as treatment ceases.
In research it seems to be more effective if used in conjunction with thiamine (vitamin B1) and caffeinated tea! The addition of these two compounds into any treatment protocol seems to allow lower doses of DCA to be used. People should only take medical grade DCA, and should always consult with their Doctor first.
The future of DCA and cancer
Clearly there is huge potential with DCA if it can ’re-ignite’ the power stations and turn the Krebs cycle back on. We await the results of the Clinical Trials with interest. We cannot really make any conclusions or recommendations without the results of the trials.
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People reading this article also read about Hydrazine Sulphate
Go to: Hydrazine Sulphate as an alternative cancer therapy. This inexpensive compound was believed by an American John Gold to break this glycolysis lactic acid glucose cycle. There are several Russian Clinical Trials on Hydrazine sulphate all showing increased survival times, several relating to brain tumours. However, the work is the subject of much criticism and debate. (And there are better options to cut your plasma glucose like diet and exercise).