Though the study was incredibly small, researchers believe they have proven that treating cancer may come from tricking it, rather then attacking it. Dichloroacetate (DCA), which has been used for years in the treatment of children with inborn mitoch ondrial diseases, was shown to stall and even reduce cancer growth in four out of the five patients studied.
The medication, which helps to normalize a patient’s mitochondria, led Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a professor at the University of Alberta department of medicine, to believe that it could also slow cancer growth by bolstering the strength of cancer-stricken mitochondria. Mitochondria are found within cells and transform food into energy. Cancer likes to stop them from doing their job, which in turn requires the host cell to demand more and more energy, eventually leading to cell death.
After successfully slowing cancer growth in labs rats, Michelakis moved onto humans with an aggressive brain tumor called glioblastoma. The initial trial was supposed to only determine if their compound was safe, but the researchers were met with a surprise. Further evaluations showed that the majority of patients had no further cancer growth for 15 months, while three out of the five showed an actual reduction.
“We showed that DCA was killing the brain cancer cells,” Michelakis told CTV News. “But more importantly, we had evidence that DCA might be doing the same thing in cancer stem cells, which are the mother of all cancer cells.”
“It’s now clear that targeting metabolism for cancer might be a new frontier for cancer,” he continued.
Another benefit to this form of treatment is that it only affects the sick cells, not the healthy ones as is the case with chemotherapy. Additionally, due to its oral intake the medicine can spread more easily through the body, reaching areas other treatments cannot.
While promising, new frontiers, after all, are new frontiers. Much more research will need to be done and other forms of cancer will need to be tested. There is hope, though, that this could be the beginning of many answers.
Unfortunately, because DCA is a generic drug, pharmaceutical companies are not interested in funding the research. All of the funding has come from the University of Alberta and public donors. If you would like to make a contribution to this promising research you may do so on their website.
Photo by ChristianFierro via Flickr.