二氯乙酸盐可治多种癌症

二氯乙酸盐可治多种癌症 （转贴）

加拿大研究人员一项最新研究显示，多年来用于治疗新陈代谢紊乱症的廉价药物二氯乙酸盐可以杀死多种癌细胞。

据最新一期英国《新科学家》杂志报道，加拿大艾伯塔大学的研究人员用这种药物对在体外培养的人体各种细胞进行了测试，发现它能杀死肺癌、乳癌和脑癌细胞，但对健康细胞没有损害。

报道说，研究人员对实验鼠的试验也证实了这一结论。研究人员给实验鼠注射癌细胞，促使其体内生长肿瘤，然后数周给它们喂食加入二氯乙酸盐的水，结果发现实验鼠体内的肿瘤明显缩小了。

迄今，人们一直认为，由于细胞的线粒体遭受无法修复的损坏，癌变细胞利用糖酵解产生乳酸，破坏使细胞聚集在一起的胶原质矩阵，这样癌变细胞就可以得到释放，流向人体其他部位，形成新肿瘤。但加拿大研究人员的实验表明，情况并非不可挽回，因为二氯乙酸盐能再度唤醒癌细胞中的线粒体，激活细胞凋亡机制，促使癌变细胞死亡。

研究人员说，二氯乙酸盐对一些病人来说可能会引起疼痛、麻木等问题，但如果它对治疗许多癌症都有效果，服用这种药物所付出的代价也许是值得的。 研究人员计划下一步用二氯乙酸盐对癌症病人进行临床试验。

二氯乙酸盐的毒副作用zt

二氯乙酸盐毒副作用的发生率不高，但对其毒副作用的报道很有一致。在一般治疗剂量(12.5～50mg/kg)下，无论是健康志愿者还是不同病因的乳酸酸中毒和心肌或脑缺血患者，均只有个别出现毒副作用，主要表现为疲倦、镇静等。即便有较为严重的外周神经系统症状，停药后即自行消失，并未发现不可逆的器质性损伤。对大鼠进行的慢性毒性试验显示，大剂量二氯乙酸盐(一日1100 mg/kg)，从第4周开始发生神经毒性症状，表现为运动行为和神经反射异常，以及体重和红细胞中酮醇转移活性降低。而这些毒性症状可通过口服维生素 B1,一日0.6 mg/kg所改善，不影响体重变化。在相同试验中给予一般治疗剂量的二氯乙酸盐(一日50 mg/kg)，无上述毒性症状发生。中枢神经毒副作用发生的原因可能在于缺乏维生素B1，因为二氯乙酸是丙酮酸脱氢酶复合物和支链a酮酸脱氢酶的激动剂，而这两种酶都依赖于维生素B1，使用二氯乙酸可能增加机体对维生素B1需求，进而造成维生素B1缺乏。所以在二氯乙酸盐制剂中加入维生素Bl，有助于减少毒副作用的发生，并对毒性症状有治疗作用，由于二氯乙酸盐抑制其自身的代谢，给药剂量和时间间隔对其毒副作用的发生可能有重要影响。

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晚期癌症的替代疗法 －－－DCA

by网友：qiuqiu04

我的岳父于八年前患有贲门癌， 手术切除后的病理诊断是第三期贲 门癌。计划中的四个疗程的手术后化疗，因为毒性反应太大，而未能坚持完成（只做了两个疗程）。西安医学院的外科手术医生预见他只能生存三年。最后岳父征求 我的意见，我认为， 西方医学普遍公认的手术后全计划疗程的化疗，它不但摧毁了癌细胞，也同时摧毁了病人自身的抗癌免疫系统（正气与邪气都被摧毁），这与中医的扶正祛邪概念相 左。从我所熟识的许多朋友患者， 老师及同学的病例， 教会里的癌症患者的许多亲身经验里， 我认识到，他们很可能是被过度的美式化疗打死的。西式的全程化疗，其实是得不偿失。这样大剂量长时间的化疗至少不是在中国病人的身上试验出来的。它们是从 白人和黑人患者身上的试验结果。如果你参考中国科学院院士，北京日坛医院肿瘤科的科主任孙燕的化疗专著，他把西方的化疗概念与东方的扶正祛邪的概念结合起 来，形成了适合东方人的手术后的化疗方案， 既要摧毁残余的癌细胞，又要激活患者的抗癌免疫淋巴系统，就需要中西医结合。孙燕曾经是我的老师，上世纪八零年在休士顿留学，专攻美式化疗。他是国内医学 界被最先摘冒的右派份子（因为中央领导人需要懂化疗的人）。我根据他的不同于洋教条的概念，决定给岳父尝试一项替代疗法 －－－－ 免去剩下的二个化疗疗程， 改为“贞芪扶正胶囊”， 外加《二氯乙酸》， 至今岳父仍然生存着， 他的寿命已远远超越国内手术医生的预期（八年 vs 三年）。对于《二氯乙酸》，我研究它在三羧酸循环中的作用多年。直到 2008 年， 加拿大阿尔贝塔大学的

Michelakis

教授发现它还能在试验鼠身上有效的缩小肝癌实体的效果， 才引起我对它的另类注意。我对教会的癌症患者和一些晚期癌症朋友建议了采用《二氯乙酸》，从网上帮他们购买到《二氯乙酸》，他们都有体力和精力的明显改 善，也延长了生命（大于化疗医生的生命预期）。下面引述其他人的临床试验。需要说明的是，任何新生事物都是要面临大量的洋教条和执照医生反对者们的声音的。我自备了一些《女贞子黄芪扶正胶囊》和《二氯乙酸》，邮寄给国内的岳父使用。对于那些愿意采用此项替代疗法来延长晚期癌症患者生命的人， 希望您首先阅读大量的最新文献， 自己拿主意。国内有一个《癌症之友》论坛， 主要讨论《二氯乙酸》抗癌的经验交流网站， 网址是 －－－ http://www.e0575.cn/...&page=e。需要说明的是， 大剂量的《二氯乙酸》可以引起末梢神经炎（四肢有手套袜子型皮肤感觉麻木）， 需要加服复合维生素B族， 特别是B1.

Cancer Care » Dichloro Acetic Acid

• Dichloro Acetic Acid
  
• Hyperthermia
  
• Insulin Potentiation Therapy
  
• Intravenous Treatments
  
• Mistletoe Therapy
  
• Naturopathic Oncology
  
• Vitamin C

DCA—my clinical experiences—intravenous and oral uses

By Walter Lemmo, ND, FABNO
When Dr. Michelakis from the University of Alberta published his research showing how a simple vinegar-like chemical could have the ability to kill cancer cells in the laboratory back in October 2008 (and the following media attention he received) some of my more eager patients became enthralled with this potential chemotherapeutic agent and as a consequence so did my learning begin into DCA. Interestingly, the first data I found using DCA & cancer was published by a Dr. Pan from the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research in Toronto back in April 2007.
As the name implies, DCA is short for Dichloro Acetic acid or Dichloro Acetate. It has a history in medicine for helping to treat a group of metabolic diseases (i.e. mitochondrial genetic diseases) in children primarily but also in adults for several decades. It has also been more loosely studied in other fields of medicine as well (i.e. exercise, COPD, heart failure, etc.). Because it is a rather simple chemical to make, it is considered a fairly inexpensive medicine. Moreover, because of its simplicity and low cost, most drug companies do not pay much attention to its use because of the more limited money or profit which can be generated as compared to medicines which are patentable or where the intellectual property (IP) can be secured.
I was happy to see the publicity that Dr. Michelakis had managed to stir about DCA and its relationship in cancer care and also exposing some of the politics behind getting non-patentable and lower cost medicines into more main-stream medicine. I even recall seeing Dr. Michelakis on CNN Larry King show on TV. As a consequence of this publicity, whether I wanted my patients to or not, the use of DCA for the treatment of their cancer(s) had become more of a common theme (i.e. it was becoming out of my control). Internet websites were popping up all over the place, selling DCA and providing treatment advice. Since that time, here in Canada and in the United States, DCA has been placed into a prescription category and its use has become more limited and regulated.
What I decided, in order to better help my patients the best I could, was to help those individuals who were interested in using DCA and at the very least monitor and try help avoid any unforeseen danger. When you are more specialized in the area of cancer like myself, you are better able to follow up patients, order the appropriate testing and perform the examinations to make sure that things are moving in the right direction or, conversely, to make suggestions or recommendations if things are going in the wrong direction.
Throughout the years of monitoring my patients with DCA, which included its eventual side-effect in causing numbness in the body (i.e. hands, feet, face, etc.), I had an inclination as to what its more dominant value would be in oncology medicine.
Case No. 1: anaplastic oligodendroglioma (1p/19q chromosome normal)—brain cancer

One of the first patients where I suggested the use of DCA was in a 39 year old woman who was diagnosed with a type of brain tumor known as an Anaplastic oligodendroglioma. She received surgery to get as much of the tumor the surgeon could (some was left behind) followed by radiation and the oral chemo pill known as Temozolomide which she continues to this day. The patient was stable for over a year receiving a comprehensive naturopathic oncology treatment alongside her standard oncology care. The patient thrived throughout. What was more unique about this patient versus others, however, is that even though her brain tumor was stable and she could be this way for many, many years as several of my patients have demonstrated, she had a goal of wanting the tumor completely gone! It was during this process (and eventual push) where DCA had come into question and her desire would become a greater reality.
I had noticed that DCA caused numbness in the hands & feet as a common side-effect which for me implied that the medicine managed to penetrate into the nervous system and possibly the brain and have an effect there. Based on these observations and gaining a better comfort with DCA, together, we decided to incorporate DCA into her protocol and see how things would go. However, in this case, while most patients were using DCA orally (in pill or powder form), I used an intravenous form that I used in helping out another patient with advanced ovarian cancer. To my knowledge, there was nobody else using DCA intravenously for the treatment of cancer anywhere and this was the first way on how I began using it. There is data using DCA by injection for non-cancer related medical conditions in research papers (i.e. COPD, exercise, congestive heart failure) which gave me some security about its potential use and safety for patients.
During the very first injection, the patient with brain cancer began to experience a “tingling” sensation in the area of the tumor site on her head. I had never seen this before in my years of specializing in cancer. I had initial concerns whether this was a good effect or a negative effect (which I later learned was OK). Together we continued a protocol of DCA twice weekly combined with low doses of vitamin C and B-vitamins mixed into the intravenous bag to theoretically help with any potential nervous system side-effects. Moreover, throughout, the patient also continued on the oral Temozolomide chemotherapy (there was no negative interaction). We had noticed that as time progressed, the tingling sensation in her head subsided and we were not certain what this had meant. The next MRI scan revealed again a stable image, and in the following several months, another MRI scan of the brain indicated the tumor was either dead or inactive. This observation was a wonderful outcome! Was this due to the combination of DCA and chemotherapy, DCA or the chemotherapy agent alone? Typically in this kind of brain tumor subtype, chemotherapy is considered not as effective and survival is poorer as compared to those with more favourable genetics (i.e. 1p/19q chromosome deletion). It has now been over 3 years and the patient continues to do extremely well. She looks fantastic, she is energetic, and she has also wed to her long-time love. She receives DCA intravenously every 1-2 months as part of a maintenance plan, along with the chemotherapy pill Temozolomide, and a naturopathic cancer care program.
Case No. 2: NSCLC—brain metastasis

In another case, a 49 year old, non-smoker woman with a history of lung cancer better demonstrated the value of DCA and its effects on the body & brain. This patient was initially diagnosed with stage III lung cancer in 2006 and managed to respond amazingly well along with an extremely devoted Acupuncturist (i.e. Gerard Tan in Vancouver), an integrated cancer care approach, and the oral chemo-agent Tarceva for over 2 years. She had no signs of tumors throughout this period which was impressive in itself when you compare to the standard conventional statistics oncologists tell you. She too thrived during this time without any complications other than a rash which was a positive sign of the Tarceva. Unfortunately, following this golden time she presented with a low grade headache that was eventually determined to be a tumor in her brain in July 2008 (i.e. leptomeningial carcinomatosis and frontal lobe areas). She received radiation which did not appear to be helpful and she later received a surgical stent in her brain to help drain the fluid that tended to accumulate there from the cancer. Chemotherapy was no longer an option. When I eventually saw her in my office, both her hearing and vision was quite poor (damaged) as a side-effect of the radiation treatment, and she had lost a fair deal of weight. I personally felt that her time left with us was going to be very short (i.e. weeks)—I was wrong. The patient, like the previous, had a continued desire to live and she placed the pressure on me to help figure out a solution—For the second time. After a series of attempts in recommending treatment ideas, I introduced the possibility of DCA. I shared with the patient’s husband my personal views about using DCA and its potential to target cancers in the brain and nervous system. Consequently, together with the patient’s husband, I suggested for the patient to take DCA orally mixed in juice. In addition, the Acupuncturist Gerard Tan continued to provide treatments which included home visits by this time (which helped tremendously). I received a phone call a few days later from her devote husband after beginning DCA that he noticed his wife’s cognition was much improved. Weeks continued and so did the improvement. Eventually, a CT scan of the brain was ordered in December (3 months later) which showed the tumors had shrunk and the brain was stable (i.e. a response to leptomeningeal carcinomatosis is truly noteworthy since there is not much out there especially in this kind of scenario)! Interestingly though, the cancer in her lungs was growing and so it appeared to confirm my intuition about DCA’s predominant role for helping from the “neck up” and not so much from the “neck down”. What was good, however, is because the brain was not the primary problem anymore, this opened up chemotherapy options once again (she was also seeing a progressive medical oncologist which helped). She continued with DCA alongside for another 6 months which she later stopped. Three months later a repeat CT scan was ordered showing the brain continued to be stable even though the DCA had stopped but, unfortunately, not the lungs. After a long battle, the patient eventually passed away from her lung cancer disease about 1.5 years after the cancer had spread to the brain—a statistical wonder. I recall the oncologist telling the family that she would be deceased by Christmas 2008, ironically this turned out close to be true—but rather the year was incorrect (i.e. the following Christmas 2009). Interestingly, the brain was not the problematic area throughout this period even though DCA was stopped for 6 months prior to her passing.
Case No. 3: ATRT Grade IV – brain cancer

One of the youngest patients to have received DCA is a 21 month old infant with a diagnosis of Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT) Grade IV in April 2010. This type of brain cancer is extremely rare and aggressive. Because there have been so few cases of this disease (i.e. 5-7 cases across Canada), the conventional treatments & options are more experimental (i.e. like DCA) and the outcomes thus far have been quite poor. As a consequence of this, the parents decided to try less harmful treatment approaches first and if there were signs of disease progression, changing the game plan would be in order. One of the recommendations I suggested was the use of DCA amongst other things. While I’ve never used it in a paediatric setting, I knew it would be easy to take (mix in juice), it appeared safe, and I suspected that the potential positives outweighed the potential negatives (which I knew from adults the negative effects were reversible). Keep in mind that the primary use of DCA originated in children with metabolic diseases for several decades. Along with a naturopathic oncology program, we very cautiously began the use of DCA. At first, the medical oncologist has hesitant on the idea. As months passed and the infant did not show any signs of disease progression, the oncologist’s views began to change in a much more positive direction. Eventually, he began refilling the prescription of DCA for the family personally. On September, 2010, an MRI was ordered which revealed that the brain tumor had grown again. As you can imagine, this was a tremendous disappointment for everyone. However, the medical oncologist had felt that there was, in fact, a positive benefit. He suspected that the grow rate of the tumor had actually slowed down (i.e. instead of doubling every 15 days, it doubled every 30 days). Because the child was taking more than DCA as a treatment, we do not know which of the recommendations could help account for this effect. However, I hope that this can serve as an example for future parents and oncologists, to consider incorporating DCA, perhaps in higher doses, (and other naturopathic approaches) alongside other standards of care so that a better response can be ultimately attained for future children.
Patients often ask how DCA targets or impacts cancer in the body. It appears that a large part of how DCA works to kill cancer cells is by affecting their mitochondria function which is the “battery” center. DCA may interfere in the way the cancer cells use energy leaving them somehow more vulnerable. This effect is a newer way of targeting cancer cells from a metabolic point of view which stems from some very old research by Dr. Otto Warburg (i.e. the noble prize winner in 1931). Basically, he had shown that cancer cells use sugar to grow (i.e. the Warburg-Effect) and so by interfering in that metabolic energy process could potentially disrupt more sensitive growing cancers. There is also a recent study in a colon cancer cell line showing when the oxygen environment is normal, the cancer cells dies with DCA (i.e. apoptosis). However, it was also observed that when the environment is low in oxygen (i.e. hypoxic) DCA appeared to be more protective for the cancer which implies some caution, and that oxygen or oxidative mechanisms may also be involved in how it selectively kills cancer.
What are the concerning side-effects or toxicity concerns with using DCA? We have to first remember that DCA is considered an environmental hazardous chemical of which chronic use has been shown in mice to be damaging to the liver and induce cancer growth. Ironically, the DCA doses used in animal toxicology experiments are very similar to those used clinically or as a medicine for the chronic or acute treatment of metabolic or cardiovascular diseases. So for patients who are considering long-term use of DCA, and especially in those who are using DCA for reducing their cancer recurrence risks (i.e. long-term users), this may be something to consider.
The more common side-effect which I see in practice is numbness & tingling symptoms. In my experience, this effect has been reversible upon discontinuation and we have patients who have been using DCA for over 2 years. We have not seen any point of concern thus far. Older patients may be more sensitive to these side-effects than younger patients. In unmonitored patients, there has been a recent published case where DCA caused very bad numbness and severe brain irritation (i.e. encephalopathy) in a patient with metastatic melanoma after using DCA for only 1 month (1200mg/day) along with high doses of vitamin A (150,000 IU/day) and it took over 8 months for the person to recover which involved physical therapy. I have not personally seen this. A personal communication with the author of this reported revealed that the patient had lived for over 3 years with this metastatic disease which, by conventional standards, is considered extremely impressive (i.e. above average). Nonetheless, it is strongly advised that patients need to be medically monitored while using DCA!
Another more common side-effect when DCA is used orally, because of the vinegar-like properties, it may irritate the stomach and especially in those who are sensitive already. It may be advised that in interested patients, that a stomach protective medicine be used alongside DCA.
In mainstream literature there have been 5 cases in patients with brain tumors (i.e. Glioblastoma) where 3 patients appeared to respond on MRI scan and 4/5 were stable after 15 months. DCA was used alongside their conventional treatment program. There is also a recent case report of a patient with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage IV who has gone into remission after beginning DCA alone. There are other medical centers, like myself, who have yet to publish some of their positive findings in journals (which I will to do in the near future).
According to new research from Dr. Michelakis in Alberta, it was shown that approximately a 3 month period of time was needed before DCA can be detected in the blood when used orally. Perhaps it better accumulates in tissues and the cerebral spinal fluid, which is not common or more difficult to test. I suspect that an initial loading dose may be needed followed by a maintenance oral dose in most patients to attain an optimal therapeutic effect. The intravenous route may be an ideal means for patients who are able do this followed by an oral maintenance dosing program (i.e. the same has been observed with the use of vitamin C oral vs intravenous)
I suspect the ideal situation for most using DCA is combined together with chemotherapy/radiation protocols as they may better enhance each other. I know that most oncologists warn patients about negative interaction concerns especially when dealing with experimental agents like DCA, but there are creative ways of cycling situations (i.e. breaks in between) for those that are worried and want to do both. There has been some more recent test-tube research showing that DCA is OK with Temozolomide but not with cisplatinum and doxorubicin, however, in another paper it synergized or worked well with cisplatinum and topotecan. There is not enough data either for or against the use of DCA with chemotherapy agents (just like most drugs), so it does become a person’s individual choice. Like my patient with brain cancer who has taken DCA together with her chemo, her choice has translated to an above average response so far.
In conclusion, in my experiences and personal views, DCA appears to have a better affinity for targeting cancers in the brain & nervous system for some reason (whether it started or spread there) and it also appears to work quickly when the conditions are right which is why a whole-person approach to cancer is important. In patients with cancers which have tendencies for spreading to the brain and central nervous system (i.e. advanced lung, melanoma, kidney, and breast cancers) DCA may also have potential for acting as a preventative or protective agent as well? To my knowledge only radiation is used in this capacity.
Because DCA is a prescriptive item in Canada and the US, people who are interested in its use need to be evaluated by a licensed healthcare professional and preferably by one who has cancer care experience. In addition, we have been exploring the use of DCA by intravenous injection and it may hold an added key in helping patients in more acute situations, where time is critical to achieve a quicker therapeutic effect.
References

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• Michelakis ED et al. Dichloroacetate (DCA) as a potential metabolic-targeting therapy for cancer. British J Cancer 2008;99:7:989-94
  
• Michelakis ED et al. Metabolic modulation of glioblastoma with dichloroacetate. Sci Transl Med 2010; 2:31:31ra34
  
• Barshop BA, et al. Chronic treatment of mitochondrial disease patients with dichloroacetate. Mol Genet Metab 2004; 83:1-2:138-49
  
• Mercken EM et al. Dichloroacetate modulates the oxidative stress and inflammatory response to exercise in COPD. Chest 2009; 136:3:744-51
  
• Papandreou I, et al. Anti-cancer drugs that target metabolism, is dichloroacetate the new paradigm? Int J Cancer 2010 Oct 18
  
• Brandsma D et al. Severe encephalopathy and polyneuropathy induced by Dichloroacetate. J Neurol July 15 2010
  
• Heshe D, et al. Dichloroacetate metabolically targeted therapy defeats cytotoxicity of standard anticancer drugs. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 2010 May 26
  
• Stockwin LH, et al. Sodium dichloroacetate selectively targets cells with defects in the mitochondrial etc. Int J Cancer 2010; 127:11:2510-9
  
• Cao W et al. Dichloroacetate (DCA) sensitizes both wild-type and over expressing Bcl-2 prostate cancer cells in vitro to radiation. Prostate 2008; 68:11:1223-31
  
• Shahrzad S et al. Sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) reduces apoptosis in colorectal tumor hypoxia. Cancer Lett. 2010; 297:1:75-83
  
• Flavin DF. Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Reversal with Dichloroacetate. J Oncol 2010 Sep 16; Epub:pii: 414726.
  
• Stacpoole PW. et al. Clinical pharmacology and toxicology of dichloroacetate. Environ Health Perspect 1998; 106 Suppl 4:989-94