Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: case studies with DCA

In the previous post, I briefly discussed the fact that tumours often have an altered metabolism and higher glucose uptake than normal cells - a phenomenon called the "Warburg effect" and that there are two case study reports in the scientific literature that describe complete remission with DCA in advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Before I describe the case studies, it is important to point out as a way of a disclaimer that this blog does not in any way encourage or advise you to self medicate with DCA. To truly test the effectiveness of DCA against cancer, a clinical trial needs to take place so please do not take this post as medical advice. Instead, these case studies are highlighted because I want to encourage more research into the potential use of DCA as an anti-cancer drug.

The first case study was published in the Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes and documented the full recovery and complete regression of stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in a 52 year old man who took DCA.




DCA case study 2. Source:

J Oncol. 010;2010. pii: 414726. doi: 10.1155/2010/414726. Epub 2010 Sep 16.

 

The second paper was published in the Journal of Oncology reporting similar effects but this time in a 48 year old man.

 


DCA case study 1. Source: J Bioenerg Biomembr. 2012 Dec 20

 

First DCA case study

The patient is a 52-year old man who has had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma since the age of 46. When doctors performed a CT scan of his body, they discovered stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.


Stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma detected in 52-year old man



Remember that cancer cells preferentially take up glucose at higher rates than normal cells. For this reason, the patient was given a FDG PET scan which basically detects glucose uptake by the tumours.



FDG-PET scan to show tumour areas that preferentially take up glucose


The patient was prescribed rituximab-CHOP, which is a monoclonal antibody and a combination of different chemotherapeutic agents. The patient initially responded well, however after 7 months, the cancer returned.




Tumour is back after chemotherapy


The patient was offered more R-CHOP, but he couldn't stand the horrible side effects of the chemotherapy and decided against the advice of the medical professionals to self-administer with DCA.

Every day he took 1000mg of DCA mixed with Mountain Dew (probably because the caffeine inside the drink is thought to help with the absorption of DCA into the body) and various supplements such as Vitamin B1.

71 days later....complete remission and the patient achieved a full recovery and has been tumour free for over 4 years.

Second DCA case study

In this report, the 48 year old man also took R-CHOP and after almost a year his tumour returned.

The patient took 900mg of DCA every day along with thiamine supplements (750mg/daily) to protect his nerves from any damage that DCA might cause.

4 months later....complete remission for over 18 months (the patient was tumour free in December 2008 and this report was published in July 2010). 



First image shows clearly the tumour and the bottom image shows the tumour has gone when the patient took DCA.



It is important to realise, we are only talking here about 2 individual case studies and which only dealt with one type of cancer (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). It is unclear whether other all patients with non-Hodgkin's will also respond just as well or whether other types of tumours (breast, prostate, lung etc...) will be sensitive.

However, these reports are interesting and this blog will definitely keep an eye on new reports about DCA in the scientific literature.

 

 



Male with cancer mixes DCA drug with Mountain Dew....and achieves FULL remission!

Cancer cells change their metabolism in such a way that it allows them to preferentially uptake and utilise glucose as their primary energy source. This phenomenon is called the "Warburg Effect", named after Otto Warburg, who was awarded the 1931 Noble Prize in Medicine.

Otto Warburg, 1931 Nobel Prize winner. Source: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1931/warburg-bio.html

Normal cells do take up glucose, but the way they metabolise or process glucose is different. Normal cells utilise oxygen in the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) to make use of the full potential of glucose. Cancer cells often switch off this oxygen requiring part of glucose metabolism and instead uptake much more glucose so that they can survive in the absence of oxygen. This has two advantages:

1) Since they are no longer dependent on oxygen, cancer cells can divide quickly with an adequate energy source despite the lack of oxygen.

2) The mitochondria where oxygen is normally utilised also happens to be the site which can instruct the type of cells that don't behave (such as cancer cells) to commit suicide in a process called apoptosis. By switching off the mitochondria, you prevent apoptosis!

Back in 2007, a group led by Dr Evangelos Michelakis in Alberta, Canada caused widespread excitement by reporting that a drug called dichloroacetate (DCA) which is already available for patient with inherited mitochondrial disorders, can reverse the Warberg effect in cancer cells. 

In the next two posts which I will post soon, I am going to present to you two case studies of patients who had stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and their tumour relapsed and returned with a vengeance after chemotherapy treatment. These two patients refused any further treatment and started to self-administrate with DCA.

The first case study involves a male patient who mixed DCA with Mountain Dew (yes the softdrink) and the second patient took DCA with thiamine (protects nerves). 

Follow this blog and please do return back soon for more updates!