DCA is a very simple chemical and adding DCA to cancer cells seems to turn the mitochondria back on again destroying the faulty cell. DCA doesn’t seem to affect healthy cells, because their mitochondria function normally. This fits the desirable criteria for an anticancer agent that selectively targets cancer cells with little to no adverse effects on healthy cells.

Normal cells usually generate energy by breaking down sugar (glucose) which takes place in tiny structures within the cell called mitochondria. As well as generating energy for the cell, mitochondria can also trigger the cell to die if it is faulty.

Cancer cells however, use a different process outside the mitochondria to generate their energy. Because cancer cells seem to switch off their mitochondria, this is believed to be one way in which cancer cells are able to evade cell death. DCA is a very simple chemical and by adding DCA to cancer cells, it seems to turn the mitochondria back on again. DCA doesn’t seem to affect healthy cells, because their mitochondria function normally. This fits the desirable criteria for an anticancer agent that selectively targets cancer cells with little to no adverse effects on healthy cells.

DCA is a naturally occurring, inexpensive, non-patentable molecule, and is non-toxic to humans. However, that makes it less profitable for pharmaceutical companies to invest funds into making this a new drug, hence the slow progress in clinical trials and lack of many doctors or clinics prescribing this as a medicine. The other way of buying DCA is over the Internet from non-certified sellers and pharma websites which can be very dangerous as you won’t know what exactly is in the capsules. DCA is a prescription drug in Canada, USA and through most of Europe. It cannot legally be sold as a medication unless it is under a doctors prescription (medical doctor or naturopathic doctor) and it is usually possible to obtain it through clinics in Canada.

Dichloroacetic acid, often abbreviated DCA, is an acid, an analogue of acetic acid. The salts and esters of dichloroacetic acid are called dichloroacetates. It is the sodium salt of DCA that is used by those with cancer, and not the acid. Never buy or use the acid yourself as this would be highly risky and harmful.

DCA’s anti-cancer properties were discovered in 2007 by Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta, Canada. In experiments on rats, Michelakis showed that DCA demonstrated dramatic action against a wide variety of cancers. He experienced a ‘eureka moment’; when he saw that tumours of various types had been dramatically reduced over the course of a few short weeks. Moreover, DCA showed very minimal disruption to healthy cells. ‘This is the so-called Holy Grail of cancer treatment,’; remarked Michelakis at the time. But Michelakis, along with a host of other medical professionals, warned patients against self-medicating despite a spate of new websites offering the product.

In medical research the gold standard of acceptability of a treatment is a phase III clinical trial. There is only one problem: DCA is not patentable. Michelakis appealed to the private sector and the Canadian Government and secured $1.5 million dollars in financing to conduct a phase II trial to demonstrate that DCA could work in humans the same way it worked in mice. However, the trial could only point to five patients, two of whom responded to DCA alone. It established that DCA does work in humans (and not only rats), but was not definitive proof. Click here to read the complete article.

Science

Therapeutic applications of dichloroacetate and the role of glutathione transferase zeta-1

Pharmacogenetic considerations with dichloroacetate dosing

Long-term stabilization of stage 4 colon cancer using sodium dichloroacetate therapy

Long-term stabilization of metastatic melanoma with sodium dichloroacetate

Phase 1 trial of dichloroacetate (DCA) in adults with recurrent malignant brain tumors

2010 article: Potential cancer drug DCA tested in early trials

20-25mg/kg/day for adults and 25-50mg/kg/day for children. 2 week on / 1 week off cycle which is modified based on side effects.

It is recommended to continue treatment for at least 2 to 3 months of treatment. For slow growing cancers, longer treatment is required.