Khan A, Andrews D, Blackburn AC. Long-term stabilization of stage 4 colon cancer using sodium dichloroacetate therapy. World J Clin Cases 2016; 4(10): 336-343 [PMID: 27803917 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v4.i10.336]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Akbar Khan, MD, Medical Director, Medicor Cancer Centres Inc., 4576 Yonge St., Suite 301, Toronto, ON M2N 6N4, Canada. akhan@medicorcancer.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Oct 16, 2016; 4(10): 336-343 Published online Oct 16, 2016. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v4.i10.336
Long-term stabilization of stage 4 colon cancer using sodium dichloroacetate therapy
Akbar Khan, Douglas Andrews, Anneke C Blackburn
Akbar Khan, Douglas Andrews, Medicor Cancer Centres Inc., Toronto, ON M2N 6N4, Canada
Anneke C Blackburn, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Author contributions: Khan A treated the patient and wrote most of the case report; Andrews D treated the patient, designed the natural therapy protocols, and co-wrote the case report; Blackburn AC performed in vitro and in vivo work demonstrating DCA’s effects as a cytostatic agent, and wrote the parts of the case report dealing with the in vitro and in vivo DCA research.
Institutional review board statement: Not applicable.
Informed consent statement: The patient described in this manuscript has given consent to publish her case anonymously.
Conflict-of-interest statement: One of the authors (Khan) administers dichloroacetate therapy for cancer patients through Medicor Cancer Centres at a cost, and without profit. The clinic is owned by a family member of this author. The other authors have nothing to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Akbar Khan, MD, Medical Director, Medicor Cancer Centres Inc., 4576 Yonge St., Suite 301, Toronto, ON M2N 6N4, Canada. akhan@medicorcancer.com
Telephone: +1-416-2270037 Fax: +1-416-2271915
Received: April 30, 2016 Peer-review started: May 3, 2016 First decision: June 17, 2016 Revised: July 23, 2016 Accepted: August 6, 2016 Article in press: August 8, 2016 Published online: October 16, 2016 Processing time: 167 Days and 20 Hours
Abstract
Oral dichloroacetate sodium (DCA) has been investigated as a novel metabolic therapy for various cancers since 2007, based on data from Bonnet et al that DCA can trigger apoptosis of human lung, breast and brain cancer cells. Response to therapy in human studies is measured by standard RECIST definitions, which define “response” by the degree of tumour reduction, or tumour disappearance on imaging. However, Blackburn et al have demonstrated that DCA can also act as a cytostatic agent in vitro and in vivo, without causing apoptosis (programmed cell death). A case is presented in which oral DCA therapy resulted in tumour stabilization of stage 4 colon cancer in a 57 years old female for a period of nearly 4 years, with no serious toxicity. Since the natural history of stage 4 colon cancer consists of steady progression leading to disability and death, this case highlights a novel use of DCA as a cytostatic agent with a potential to maintain long-term stability of advanced-stage cancer.
Core tip: Oral dichloroacetate sodium (DCA) has been investigated as a novel metabolic therapy for various cancers. Response to therapy in human studies is measured by standard RECIST definitions, which define “response” by the degree of tumour reduction, or tumour disappearance on imaging. However, DCA can also act as a cytostatic agent, without causing apoptosis (programmed cell death). A case is presented in which oral DCA therapy resulted in tumour stabilization of stage 4 colon cancer in a 57 years old female for a period of nearly 4 years, with no serious toxicity.
