Is there already a cure for most CANCER's ??

I stumbled upon this very interesting online article published by New Scientist this afternoon that really caught my attention like no other. Since my father has cancer, knowing more about possible cures helps me cope. I hope this article can provide new hope for those that have or know someone who has Cancer. It looks like there's more to the drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), than we thought. Is it really possible to have a cure for most cancer's already and be able to provide the pills to the public at an affordable price? That would be a true miracle! Please feel free to share with your family and friends.



"Cheap, 'safe' drug kills most cancers."
Updated 16:37 12 December 2007 by Andy Coghlan

New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers. If you would like up-to-date information on any plans for clinical trials of DCA in patients with cancer, or would like to donate towards a fund for such trials, please visit the site set up by the University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board. We will also follow events closely and will report any progress as it happens.

It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their "immortality". The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.

It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.

Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks.

DCA attacks a unique feature of cancer cells: the fact that they make their energy throughout the main body of the cell, rather than in distinct organelles called mitochondria. This process, called glycolysis, is inefficient and uses up vast amounts of sugar.

Until now it had been assumed that cancer cells used glycolysis because their mitochondria were irreparably damaged. However, Michelakis's experiments prove this is not the case, because DCA reawakened the mitochondria in cancer cells. The cells then withered and died (Cancer Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2006.10.020).

Michelakis suggests that the switch to glycolysis as an energy source occurs when cells in the middle of an abnormal but benign lump don't get enough oxygen for their mitochondria to work properly (see diagram). In order to survive, they switch off their mitochondria and start producing energy through glycolysis.

Crucially, though, mitochondria do another job in cells: they activate apoptosis, the process by which abnormal cells self-destruct. When cells switch mitochondria off, they become "immortal", outliving other cells in the tumour and so becoming dominant. Once reawakened by DCA, mitochondria reactivate apoptosis and order the abnormal cells to die.

"The results are intriguing because they point to a critical role that mitochondria play:
they impart a unique trait to cancer cells that can be exploited for cancer therapy," says Dario Altieri, director of the University of Massachusetts Cancer Center in Worcester.

The phenomenon might also explain how secondary cancers form. Glycolysis generates lactic acid, which can break down the collagen matrix holding cells together. This means abnormal cells can be released and float to other parts of the body, where they seed new tumours.

DCA can cause pain, numbness and gait disturbances in some patients, but this may be a price worth paying if it turns out to be effective against all cancers. The next step is to run clinical trials of DCA in people with cancer. These may have to be funded by charities, universities and governments: pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to pay because they can't make money on unpatented medicines. The pay-off is that if DCA does work, it will be easy to manufacture and dirt cheap.

Paul Clarke, a cancer cell biologist at the University of Dundee in the UK, says the findings challenge the current assumption that mutations, not metabolism, spark off cancers. "The question is: which comes first?" he says.

11 comments:

Mary said...

Well it certainly sounds promising and with cancer, anything's worth a try, if you ask me. I lost my Mom 6 years ago to it and I certainly don't blame you for looking at any and all options for your Dad. Thanks for posting...is that your Dad? Very handsome guy!

Suburban prep said...

http://loyolamedicine.org/Medical_Services/Cancer/Why_Choose_Us/Features/Minielly.cfm


This is an article about my sister. She is now doing commercials for Loyola Medical Center in the Chicago area. There is always hope.

Southern Lady's Vintage said...

Wow! Very interesting!! And hopefully a cure for sure!

Heidi said...

Let's hope this is the answer we've been hoping for! I hope your Dad gets something to help him beat his. Dads are so wonderful and yours looks like a good one!

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Audra, Green Meadow Lane said...

Thanks Mary, and I'm so very sorry that you have lost your mom to this terrible disease. It doesn't seem fair does it? And....That is a pic of my dad who is currently fighting cancer. He is pretty handsome, right?!

Thanks for the link SuburbanPrep! I'm looking forward to reading the article! I appreciate you posting that for us!

Iv Sadovsky Photography said...

I see you are a member of New Scientist as well. Thank you for visiting my place, it's always a pleasure of meeting new people. The article is very up going and I do hope that your father recovers. Have a beautiful day:)

Audra, Green Meadow Lane said...

Thank you for your kind words Iv! I hope he recovers too...!

Anonymous said...

My sister had cancer so I understand the pain and worry. I'm sending you warm and kind thoughts. And I did the same thing when my sister was sick. I'm going to an alternative Dr. now. It's called Hult clinic in McHenry IL. And there is a health food store that can really really help if you have cancer it's called Polsons and its in Antioch IL. I would say look at everything.

Lisa Crone said...

Hi there! Thanks for visiting me at my abeadaday blog! I am so glad I stopped over here and read this article!! Amazing! I am going to share this with everyone I know!

The Kid In The Front Row said...

oh my, wouldn't that be great? let's hope this happens.