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A peer-reviewed article of this preprint also exists.
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Submitted:
30 August 2023
Posted:
31 August 2023
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Intervention | Mechanism | Evidence | Toxicity | Dosage per day |
---|---|---|---|---|
METABOLIC AND LIFESTYLE INTERVENTIONS FOR CANCER TREATMENT | ||||
Glucose management and ketogenic diet | Restricting carbohydrates prevents their conversion to glucose, impacting the body's metabolic and energy functions. [326,327] | Prevent the high glucose spikes that fuel cancer [328] | Some possible complications for select populations | Ketogenic diet (<50g carbohydrates per day) in 8 hour eating window |
Exercise | Multiple mechanisms[329] | Improved survival outcomes [330,331,332,333,334,335] | Possible overuse | 30 minutes per day |
Stress Reduction | Multiple mechanisms [336] | Stress associated with higher cancer risk and poorer survival outcome[64,337,338] | No known fatalities | Daily mindfulness |
Sleep | Multiple mechanisms [339] | Healthy sleep is essential for metabolic regulation [77] | 8 hours per night | |
TIER ONE REPURPOSED DRUGS – STRONG RECOMMENDATION | ||||
Vitamin D | Inhibiting Angiogenesis [340] Stimulating adherence of cells [341] Enhancing intercellular communication [342,343] | Statistically significant reductions in cancer mortality [344]. More significant reductions in cancer risk for those with normal BMI (<25) [345] |
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D higher than 150ng/mL are hallmark of vitamin D toxicity due to hypercalcemia [346] | 20,000 to 50,000 IU daily |
Melatonin | Multiple mechanisms [129,130] | Low levels of melatonin increase breast cancer risk [347] Increases cancer remission and survival rates [348] |
Oral LD50 in mice: 1.25g/kg [349] | Start at 1 mg and increase to 20-30 mg at night (extended/slow release) |
Green tea | Inhibition of mitochondrial glutamate dehydrogenase by epigallocatechin gallate [350]. Suppression of cancer stem cells [351,352] |
Green tea drinkers have lower risk of breast cancer[353]. Lowers risk of multiple cancers [354]. Lower risk of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma [355] |
EGCG: Mouse oral LD50 2.2g/kg | 500-1,000 mg daily |
Metformin | Blood glucose stabilization [160] Inhibition of AMPK/mTOR pathway [356] |
Lower incidence and higher survivability[357] of colorectal cancer [358]. Survival benefit for people with prostate cancer and concurrent diabetes [359]. Lower risk of cancer in people with type 2 diabetes [360]. |
Oral LD50 in rats: 1g/kg [361] | 1,000 mg twice daily |
Curcumin | Inducing Apoptosis selectively in cancer cells [362]. Multiple mechanisms [175] |
Significant heterogeneity in trials depending on curcumin formulation [363] | Oral LD50 in rats: >5g/kg [364] | 600 mg daily or as per manufacturer’s suggested dosing |
Mebendazole | Inhibits cancer-associated signaling pathways [365] | Case reports show improvement [366,367]. Case series with related drug fenbendazole show promise in treating genitourinary malignancies [368] | Oral LD50 in mice: >1280 mg/kg [369] | 100-200 mg daily |
Omega 3 | modulation of cyclooxygenase activity alteration of membrane and cell surface receptor function[206,370] |
Protective against breast cancer in Asian patients [371] Lower levels of Omega 3 relative to Omega 6 associated with higher cancer mortality [372] |
N/A Possible heavy metal toxicity from extreme overuse [373] |
2-4 g/day |
Berberine | Multiple mechanisms [374,375] | Can reduce risk of colorectal cancer [376]. Reduces tumor volume in animal studies [377] |
Mouse oral LD50: 329 mg/kg [378] | A daily dose of 1000-1500 mg or 500-600 mg two or three times daily |
Atorvastatin | Multiple mechanisms [379,380] | Improvement [230,381,382,383,384,385,386,387] | oral LD50 in mice: >5g/kg [388] | 40 mg 2x/day‡. |
Simvastatin | Multiple mechanisms [380,389] | Case series shows simvastatin may increase radiosensitivity of cancer cells [390] Statin use in US population associated with lower cancer mortality[383] |
Oral mouse LD50: 3g/kg [391] | |
Disulfiram | Multiple mechanisms [235,392] | Reduce tumor activity in breast cancer [393] | Oral rat LD50: 9g/kg [394] | 80mg 3x daily or 500 mg once daily |
Cimetidine | Interferes with tumor cell adhesion, angiogenesis and proliferation [395] | Improvement in gastric cancer survivability [396] Improvement in survivability of surgical treatment of colorectal cancers [397] |
Oral rat LD50: 5g/kg [398] | 400-800 mg twice daily |
Mistletoe | protein synthesis interference, cell-cycle inhibition, and induced apoptosis [251,256] | evidence of the efficacy of mistletoe extracts in gastric and female genital cancer [399] | Peritoneal rat LD50: 1-3g/kg for stem aqueous extract [400] | given subcutaneously by an integrative oncologist, Typical dose 600mg 3x/week [401] |
Sildenafil | Enhances drug sensitivity [402] | N/A | Increase in adverse events above 200mg [403] | 20 mg daily |
TIER TWO REPURPOSED DRUGS – WEAK RECOMMENDATION | ||||
Low dose naltrexone (LDN) | Interfering with cell signalling [404] Immunomodulation [405] Anti-inflammatory [406] |
Improvement in tumors including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [407] suppress human ovarian cancer [408] |
Oral mouse LD50: 1g/kg [409] |
1-4.5mg daily |
Doxycycline | Inhibiting anti-apoptotic and angiogenic proteins [410] | N/A | Oral rat LD50: 2g/kg [411] | 100 mg daily (for cycles of 2 weeks – use sparingly) |
Wheatgrass | Inhibition of metastasis and angiogenesis, Induction of apoptosis [412] | N/A | No observed toxicity at >2g/kg oral dose in mice for 14 days [413] | 9g fermented wheat germ extract daily |
Intervention | Mechanism | Evidence | Toxicity | Dosage per day |
---|---|---|---|---|
TIER THREE REPURPOSED DRUGS -EQUIVOCAL EVIDENCE | ||||
Resveratrol | Induction of apoptosis [414] Inhibition of cancer stem cells [415] |
In vivo evidence for anti-cancer effect, high heterogeneity in humans [416] | Predicted Oral Rat LD50, 48h: 870 mg/kg/day [417] | 500mg, 2x daily |
Aspirin | Multiple mechanisms [418] | Protective effect on esophageal cancer [419], and other cancers [420] | Oral mouse LD50: 250mg/kg [421] | 325 mg daily |
Diclofenac | Multiple, mechanisms [422] | Improved disease free survival in breast cancer surgery[423]. Normalizes skin lesions when applied topically [424]. Case studies shows improvement [425,426,427,428,429] |
Mouse oral LD50: 170mg/kg [430] | Diclofenac 75-100 mg daily |
Nigella Sativa (thymoquinone) | p53, NF-κB, PPARγ, STAT3, MAPK, and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways [431] | improved treatment outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children[432] | Oral mouse LD50: 29mL/kg [433] | 400-500mg encapsulated oil twice daily, avoid during pregnancy |
Reishi | Immunomodulation [434,435] | 50% increased effectiveness of cancer chemotherapy [436] | Oral mouse LD50: >10g/kg[437] | 6-12g of Reishi extract per day |
Ivermectin | Regulates multiple signaling pathways[438,439] | Case series showed improvement in patient symptoms when combined with dichloroacetate [440] | Mouse oral LD50: >27mg/kg [441] | 12-60mg 2x/week |
Dipyridamole | Increases tumor chemosensitivity [442] | Increases efficacy of other anti-cancer agents [443,444,445] | Rat oral LD50: 8g/kg [446] | 100 mg twice daily |
Intravenous Vitamin C | Targeted killing (through intracellular generation of H2O2) of cancer cells [447] | Improved life quality in cancer patients [448], lowered inflammation [449] | Rat intravenous LD50 >4g/kg [450] | 50-75 g IV as per protocol |
Dichloroacetate | Inhibits dehydrogenase kinase to inhibit metabolic reprogramming by cancer cells [451] | Greater treatment response, but no impact on survival [452] | Rat oral LD50 5 g/kg [453] | 500 mg two/three times daily |
Cannabinoids | induction of cancer cell death by apoptosis and the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation [454] | Useful in treating refractory chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting Case studies show possible benefit [455] |
THC Mouse oral LD50: 500mg/kg[456] CBD Mouse oral LD50: >100mg/kg [457] |
Daily doses range from 10 to 800mg CBD and 5-8mg THC [458] |
Fenofibrate | Stimulation of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α (PPARα) [459] | No clinical data | Mouse oral LD50: 1.6g/kg [460] | N/A |
Pao Pereira | Inhibition of NF kappa B Signaling [461] | Effectiveness in prostate cancer [462] | Limited information | N/A |
Potential Adjunctive Therapies | ||||
Tumor Treating Fields | Multiple mechanisms, induction of apoptosis and autophagy [463] | N/A | N/A | |
Photodynamic therapy | Direct cellular damage, vascular shutdown and activation of immune response against tumor cells [464] | N/A | N/A | |
Hyperbaric Oxygen | Elevates levels of reactive oxygen species to signal cell death in cancer cells[465] | N/A | Possible adverse reactions[466] | |
TIER FOUR REPURPOSED DRUGS – RECOMMEND AGAINST | ||||
Shark cartilage | inhibition of angiogenesis. sphyrnastatin 1 and 2 have antiangiogenic activity and to inhibit neovascularization [467] | N/A | Gastric adverse events[468], potential neurotoxicity [469] | |
Laetrile (amygdalin) | Multiple mechanisms [470] | produced few clinical side effects [471] | Rat oral LD50: 0.9g [472] |
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David Licha
et al.
,
2019
Maxime Parisotto
et al.
,
2022
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