"All the World's a Stage We Pass Through" R. Ayana

Saturday 28 May 2011

Mainstream Cancer Cure Ignored: University of Alberta DCA Discovery

Mainstream Cancer Cure Ignored
The University of Alberta DCA Discovery


"If there were a magic bullet… it might be something like dichloroacetate, or DCA..."
- Newsweek, January 23, 2007




DCA is an odourless, colourless, inexpensive, relatively non-toxic small molecule. And researchers at the University of Alberta believe it 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. Sebastien 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 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. "One of the really exciting things about this compound is that it might be able to treat many different forms of cancer".

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 patients with cancer.

"The results are intriguing because they point to the critical role that mitochondria play: they impart a unique trait to cancer cells that can be exploited for cancer therapy"

- Dario Alteri
Director, University of Massachusetts Cancer Center

Investing in Research

The DCA compound is not patented and not owned by any pharmaceutical company, and, therefore, would likely be an inexpensive drug to administer, says Michelakis, the Canada Research Chair in Pulmonary Hypertension and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program with Capital Health, one of Canada's largest health authorities.

However, as DCA is not patented, Michelakis is concerned that it may be difficult to find funding from private investors to test DCA in clinical trials. He is grateful for the support he has already received from publicly funded agencies, such as the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), and he is hopeful such support will continue and allow him to conduct clinical trials of DCA on cancer patients.

Michelakis' research is currently funded by the CIHR, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canada Research Chairs program, and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

"This preliminary research is encouraging and offers hope to thousands of Canadians and all others around the world who are afflicted by cancer, as it accelerates our understanding of and action around targeted cancer treatments," said Dr. Philip Branton, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Cancer.

DCA and Cancer Patients

The University of Alberta's DCA Research Team is set to launch clinical trials on humans pending government approval. Knowing that thousands of cancer patients die weekly while waiting for a cure, Dr. Michelakis and his team are working at accelerated speed, condensing research that usually takes years into months.

Fundraisers at the University of Alberta are determined to raise the money to allow this next phase of research to begin. Once Health Canada grants formal approval, the University of Alberta's Research Team will begin testing DCA on patients living with cancer. Results with regards to the safety and efficacy of treatment should be known late this year [written in 2007 – Ed].




Image - http://hubpages.com/hub/Scientists_cure_cancer__but_no_one_takes_notice


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4 comments:

  1. The probability is low that a real cancer cure will come out of any major university in America. There really isn't a lot of money to be made from a permanent cure all, compared to the amount of money they're making today in making people sick, and keeping them treated with drugs etc... No, America's major universities and businesses are all about profit over real education and the health of it's citizens. Chomsky despite his political views is right, it's all about profit over people!

    The cure all is your responsibility as an individual to find. Don't depend on others to give you faulty information, go out and seek it and realize that the best cures are simple and natural and often rejected by the so called authorities of modern medicine. Allow yourselves to be smarter than they are. If you don't have a traditional education, consider yourselves lucky that you have not been indoctrinated with the BS value system that's become the primary disease in this world. Elevate yourselves with wisdoms that cannot be repudiated with the beliefs of self serving acrobats.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You don't need DCA..... In fact you don't need any Big pharma chemical at all... You can cure yourself of most every disease, through your own personal understanding of nutrition.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely true, Anon - exercise and conscious breathing help, too

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Anon
    I agree with being able to help yourself but how do I go about helping someone who has cancer through conscious breathing etc?
    Im not familiar with where to look if you can help in any way and direct me where to look.
    I live in Toronto
    thx

    ReplyDelete

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