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Non-Patented Chemotherapy Alternative Drug
Non-Patented Chemotherapy Alternative Drug May Provide Cheap Chemical Cure for
Cancer
Source: NewsTarget.com February 01, 2007
Author: M.T. Whitney
A cheap, simple and safe drug currently being used to treat rare metabolic disorders may be the
golden ticket to fighting certain cancers, a Canadian study says. Since it is non-patented, it could
be produced on a mass scale by multiple suppliers.
The drug is called Dichloroacetate, or DCA, and it can repair damage to mitochondria affected by
cancer, creating large decreases in cancerous tumors. Positive results from the drug were shown
in both animal model tests and test tubes. It also has been tested on genetically cultured human
cells.
Most importantly, it can kill cancerous cells, including the often unstoppable lung cancer, without
affecting other healthy cells and tissues, which differs DCA from many chemotherapies.
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada did the tests, finding that in addition
to fighting lung cancer, DCA can also decimate brain and breast cancer.
DCA utilizes the way cancer cells energize themselves and uses that to work against the cancerous
growth. A cancer cell will often eat sugars in the cell, using a process called glycolysis. Previous
consensus among scientists was that cancer cells use glycolysis to stay alive because the
mitochondria had been damaged beyond functioning levels.
The researchers in Edmonton found that DCA reawakens mitochondria, which holds a secondary
function: the ability to tell abnormal cells to self-destruct. Without this self-destruct mode being
active, abnormal cancerous cells have the ability to be “immortal,” and increase over time because
they are not dying like regular cells. Initial studies show that DCA reverses this.
The next move for the study is to do clinical tests using DCA in patients with cancer, reported the
Chinese web site People’s Daily Online. These tests may need to be paid for by charities,
universities and government agencies, as pharmaceutical are not likely to support an unpatented
medicine because they cannot profit from it, the magazine New Scientist reported in its January
issue.
Cancer
Source: NewsTarget.com February 01, 2007
Author: M.T. Whitney
A cheap, simple and safe drug currently being used to treat rare metabolic disorders may be the
golden ticket to fighting certain cancers, a Canadian study says. Since it is non-patented, it could
be produced on a mass scale by multiple suppliers.
The drug is called Dichloroacetate, or DCA, and it can repair damage to mitochondria affected by
cancer, creating large decreases in cancerous tumors. Positive results from the drug were shown
in both animal model tests and test tubes. It also has been tested on genetically cultured human
cells.
Most importantly, it can kill cancerous cells, including the often unstoppable lung cancer, without
affecting other healthy cells and tissues, which differs DCA from many chemotherapies.
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada did the tests, finding that in addition
to fighting lung cancer, DCA can also decimate brain and breast cancer.
DCA utilizes the way cancer cells energize themselves and uses that to work against the cancerous
growth. A cancer cell will often eat sugars in the cell, using a process called glycolysis. Previous
consensus among scientists was that cancer cells use glycolysis to stay alive because the
mitochondria had been damaged beyond functioning levels.
The researchers in Edmonton found that DCA reawakens mitochondria, which holds a secondary
function: the ability to tell abnormal cells to self-destruct. Without this self-destruct mode being
active, abnormal cancerous cells have the ability to be “immortal,” and increase over time because
they are not dying like regular cells. Initial studies show that DCA reverses this.
The next move for the study is to do clinical tests using DCA in patients with cancer, reported the
Chinese web site People’s Daily Online. These tests may need to be paid for by charities,
universities and government agencies, as pharmaceutical are not likely to support an unpatented
medicine because they cannot profit from it, the magazine New Scientist reported in its January
issue.