Article about Malaria Pills

mike3121 · October 2015

Just out"

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-10-malaria-vaccine-cancer.html

mkkjd60 · October 2015

Thank you for this post, Mike. This could be a significant treatment if is works in human trials.

MusicLover · October 2015

Thanks for posting this, more good news.

dlb823 · October 2015

Just read about this here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/cure-for...

Not sure what I think yet. It almost seems a bit bizarre on first read. I'll have to read the two other articles Mike posted.

Oh, and here's one more I'm editing to add: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/300939.ph...:+Trending+Content&utm_content=561e7e6304d3013840000001&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

JohnSmith · October 2015

Dr. Raymond Chang, author of the book "Beyond The Magic Bullet" (well known in the Complementary/Alternative medicine world) discusses the Malaria drug "Chloroquine" in the two hour video "Surviving Terminal Cancer", a fascinating film that is probably frowned upon by mainstream oncology.

Anyway, skip ahead to ~37:00 minutes into the video, where he discusses how Chloroquine, a dirt cheap and safe malaria drug, has shown efficiency in a variety of cancers, particularly in brain cancer.

MusicLover · October 2015

JS, You are full of knowledge. Just watched the video and I am more disgusted, unbelievable. Thank you once again.

JohnSmith · October 2015

Not to hijack this thread, but the video gets better.
Skip ahead to 28:30 minutes and watch through the 32:00 minute mark.
Watch what Dr. Bharat B Aggarwal, Professor of Cancer Research at MD Anderson, says about Curcumin (Turmeric).

It looks like Dr. Aggarwal has been under investigation for a few years and in Feb 2016, a number of his papers have been "retracted because the data integrity has become questionable."

Source: Journal retracts 7 papers by MD Anderson cancer researcher long under investigation

MusicLover · October 2015

JS, I think I watched this awhile ago and I was taking turmeric but I stopped I should go back to it. There is a video floating around the includes the story of a brain cancer patient, an older gentleman, who had been taking a bunch of supplements and has well lived out the date his oncologist gave him. If I find it I will post it.

Never mind, my memory stinks I just went back to your video and that story is included in here, yep, I definitely watched this before - sorry.

JohnSmith · October 2015

Are you referring to Ben Williams, the GBM patient?

He's the "star" of that video posted above. It's a fascinating, privately funded, patient-led film released in Feb 2015.
It examines the extraordinary story of Ben Williams, a PhD from UC San Diego, who at age 50 was diagnosed in 1995 with Glioblastoma (GBM), a usually fatal form of brain cancer. (GBM is the same type of cancer profiled in the 60 Minutes episode on Immunotherpy [Duke University polio cancer therapy], broadcast in March 2015).

Anyway, the film explores the concept of "Combination Therapy". Essentially using multiple agent approaches by combining conventional therapy (chemo, radiation) with non-standard remedies ("off label" inexpensive drugs that are commercially available but aren't recognized by the FDA as a cancer drug - a good example is the inexpensive anti-malarial drug).
After being told he was terminal, Ben began researching for ways to beat his brain cancer. He used this "Combination Therapy" model, taking a cocktail of pills. If I recall, he took 120mg of Tamoxifen, not the standard 20mg dose breast cancer patients take. Can you imagine? 120mg of Tam? I think he took Tamoxifen because of its known anti-angiogenic effects.

Sorry for derailing this thread.

MusicLover · October 2015

Yep, I modified my post above. I have been taking Protocel along with my AI, I added Protocel in August of 2014 when in May my TM's started climbing sure enough my July 2014 scan showed more activity but when my TM's were checked in Sept just about 3 weeks after adding Protocel my TM's were back in the normal range and they have remained normal ever since. I am still not NED but I hope that I get there and stay there. Only time will tell if this is really working for me but I believe that it has bought me more time on femara which is a great thing.

JohnSmith · October 2015

Here's a clinical trial using the Malaria drug, Chloroquine (CQ), for those in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It appears to be a pre-surgical 'window' trial, where they will treat patients with the malaria drug, during the ~2-6 week timeframe between initial diagnosis and final surgery. After surgery, they will look at biomarkers and compare differences pre- and post-therapy.

1. A Phase 2 Randomized, Double-blind Trial Evaluating the Effects of Chloroquine in Breast Cancer (CUBiC)

Chloroquine (CQ) is a well known, well tolerated medication that has been used for many years traditionally for arthritis, lupus, and malaria. It has anti-inflammatory properties but is often the drug of choice for arthritis and malaria due to its few side effects. Recently, lab investigations have proven that CQ may potentially have anti-cancer properties, by inhibiting a process which allows cancers such as breast cancer to continue to grow (a process known as "autophagy"). Therefore, this study will look at how well CQ can inhibit the growth of breast cancers in patients while waiting for surgery.

Estimated Enrollment: 60
Study Start Date: July 2015
Estimated Study Completion Date: March 2018
Estimated Primary Completion Date: March 2017 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

2. There's also this Phase II Chloroquine clinical trial for breast cancer:
"Chloroquine With Taxane Chemotherapy for Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Who Have Failed an Anthracycline (CAT)"

Estimated Enrollment: 47
Study Start Date: September 2011
Estimated Primary Completion Date: September 2016 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

mike3121 · October 2015

While in the Army in a tropical climate (um, dangerous tropical climate) I was issued little green malaria pills. They gave me the "I got'ta run to the bathroom right now's" for the first two weeks then I guess my body adapted. Millions of people all over the world have taken malaria pills for years. I don't see why some of the ladies, especially those on tamoxifen, don't take them just in case.

Two weeks before my wife has her kidney cancer operation. She'll probably lose the kidney. Since last November my wife's had a radical mastectomy and 19 lymph nodes removed. The biopsy of the breast showed an aggressive ER+ tumor. Nine of the 19 lymph nodes had metaplastic triple negative breast cancer. Their was some of it still left in her rt underarm area. Lifetime amount of A-C then 7 weeks of radiation probably took care of all that mess. Ops, a cancerous tumor was found growing in her kidney. Maybe, just maybe she'll be NED for awhile.

Mike W.

MusicLover · October 2015

I'm so sorry. This cancer crap has gotta go. I hope that your wife is NED forever.

JohnSmith · November 2015

I've been doing some reading on the AntiMalaria drug, Chloroquine (CQ) since there's been breaking news.

First, I'll add to the description of these anti-malaria drugs in the realm of cancer.
CQ is a very old drug that dates back to the 1940's. Like I said earlier, it's dirt cheap and proven to be safe with few side effects.
Over the years, cancer researchers noticed that CQ suppressed tumor growth and metastasis. They found that CQ neutralizes the pH of intracellular compartments. Specifically, CQ affects the cancer cell microenvironment, rather than the cancer cells themselves. This tumor micro-environment (TME) is the cellular environment in which the tumor exists. It includes surrounding blood vessels, immune cells, fibroblasts, bone marrow-derived inflammatory cells, lymphocytes, signaling molecules, the extracellular matrix, etc.
The takeaway is that tumors and the TME are intimately intertwined. The TME can contribute to tumor heterogeneity, which we all know is bad!

All of this got me thinking.
Instead of developing drugs that target cancer cells, why not focus on developing drugs that target the TME. Make the TME unsuitable for cancer to thrive.
Is this being done? The short answer is Yes (based on the CQ news below), but what other therapies exist? (that's for a different thread)
A quick peek at clinicaltrials.gov revealed 17 trials are investigating the combination of CQ with conventional therapies, shown here. In fact, three of them are for Breast Cancer. This is good.

One of these trials just made the news this past week. It's called "The PINC Trial" (Study of the Efficacy of Chloroquine in the Treatment of DCIS).
The trial takes advantage of the waiting period between a diagnosis and surgery. It's called a pre-surgical window trial, where they administer CQ and look at Biomarkers pre-therapy and post-therapy to assess how the DCIS lesions are responding to therapy.
Estimated enrollment: 90
Study Start Date: December 2009
Estimated Study Completion Date: September 2016
Estimated Primary Completion Date: September 2016 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Yesterday, this trial was cited in breaking news that George Mason University researchers have filed a patent for a new breast cancer treatment based on CQ. That news called "New patent paves way for breast cancer prevention" can be read here. It's worth a read.

It appears that George Mason researchers have been investigating CQ for many years and they discovered a breast cancer "target" which led to the patent. Since CQ can't be patented, I'm curious about what "technique" led to the patent filing as well as what Biomarker target they discovered?
Does this target only exist in DCIS?
Could this target really be a breast cancer prevention therapy?
Does this target (or CQ) have clinical utility for those already diagnosed with invasive disease?
Has anyone looked into this? Is anyone reading this?

Here's more info about a different use of CQ. Check out this 2015 Abstract: "Hydroxychloroquine inhibits autophagy to potentiate antiestrogen responsiveness in ER+ breast cancer." The authors include: Dr. Robert Clarke of Georgetown and Dr. David Soto-Pantoja (who worked on Anti-CD47 at the NCI).

PURPOSE:
Estrogen receptor-α (ERα)-targeted therapies including tamoxifen (TAM) or Faslodex (ICI) are used to treat ER(+) breast cancers. Up to 50% of tumors will acquire resistance to these interventions. Autophagy has been implicated as a major driver of antiestrogen resistance. We have explored the ability of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which inhibits autophagy, to affect antiestrogen responsiveness.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:
TAM-resistant MCF7-RR and ICI-resistant/TAM cross-resistant LCC9 ER(+) breast cancer cells were injected into mammary fat pads of female athymic mice and treated with TAM and/or ICI in combination with oral low-dose HCQ.

RESULTS:
We show that HCQ can increase antiestrogen responsiveness in MCF7-RR and LCC9 cells and tumors, likely through the inhibition of autophagy. However, the combination of ICI+HCQ was less effective than HCQ alone in vivo, unlike the TAM+HCQ combination. Antiestrogen treatment stimulated angiogenesis in tumors but did not prevent HCQ effectiveness. The lower efficacy of ICI+HCQ was associated with ICI effects on cell-mediated immunity within the tumor microenvironment. The mouse chemokine KC (CXCL1) and IFNγ were differentially regulated by both TAM and ICI treatments, suggesting a possible effect on macrophage development/activity. Consistent with these observations, TAM+HCQ treatment increased tumor CD68(+) cells infiltration, whereas ICI and ICI+HCQ reduced peripheral tumor macrophage content. Moreover, macrophage elimination of breast cancer target cells in vitro was reduced following exposure to ICI.

CONCLUSION:
HCQ restores antiestrogen sensitivity to resistant tumors. Moreover, the beneficial combination of TAM+HCQ suggests a positive outcome for ongoing neoadjuvant clinical trials using this combination for the treatment of ER(+) ductal carcinoma in situ lesions.

MusicLover · November 2015

Sounds great! Hopefully this includes LCIS also. I would love to see a vaccine that prevents it from happening altogether, this is still a treatment once something is found but still a great discovery.

exbrnxgrl · November 2015

I am hopeful that this pans out. It's a bit nostalgic for me as the Peace Corps as chloroquine was given to us when we traveled to India or Sri Lanka. That was more than 30 years ago

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