DCA Patient Trials

You may remember a few years ago, there was buzz out of the University of Alberta about a simple molecule, dichloroacetate (DCA), that was effective at inhibiting aerobic glycolysis and slowing the growth of cancer cells in vitro and in mouse models. This was hailed in some quarters as a miracle cure, others claimed it would never see the light of day because Big Pharma would keep it down, unscrupulous peddlers seized a money-making opportunity and more sensible people took the data for what it was and awaited further investigation and proper trials.

The first patient trials have now been done, and the results are in. Surgically excised glioblastomas showed signs of reversal of the Warburg effect and increased apoptosis.

The clinical trial was quite small, involving 5 patients with neuroblastoma being treated with various standard therapies plus DCA. Three showed regression of their cancers, though it's not certain whether it was the DCA or the existing treatment responsible for the change.

Both Abel Pharmboy [Dichloroacetate not yet an effective treatment for aggressive brain cancer] and Orac [Dichloroacetate (DCA) and cancer: Déjà vu all over again] have excellent descriptions of DCA, how it works and analysis of the trial on their respective blogs. The bottom line seems to be that DCA remains interesting, but needs to benefit from more research and well-designed trials before moving to a real treatment.