The study shows that a metabolism-targeting drug can reduce Cancer-related tiredness without interfering with cancer treatments.
Cancer-related tiredness (CRF) is a crippling yet all-too-common disease that has a negative impact on patients' quality of life while they are receiving treatment. There are currently no viable pharmaceutical therapies available for the constellation of symptoms that together constitute CRF.
Cancer-related fatigue may soon benefit from potential new treatment.
In a new study led by Yale Cancer Center researchers at Yale
School of Medicine, the team found that a metabolism-targeting drug called
dichloroacetate (DCA) helped alleviate CRF in mice, without interfering with
cancer treatments. The findings are a pathway for future CRF research that may
someday lead to a new therapy for patients.
The results were published in American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism on Oct. 2.
"This study identifies dichloroacetate, an activator of glucose oxidation, as the first intervention, and particularly the first metabolism-focused intervention, to prevent the whole syndrome of cancer-related fatigue in preclinical models," said senior author Rachel Perry, who is a member of Yale Cancer Center.
Researchers used to tumor-bear mouse models to investigate the effectiveness of DCA in treating cancer-related fatigue for patients living with melanoma. The group found that DCA did not affect the rates of tumor growth or compromise the effectiveness of immunotherapy or chemotherapy in two mouse cancer models. DCA also significantly preserved physical function and motivation in mice with late-stage tumors.
The data suggests that DCA treatment may have several positive effects, including reducing oxidative stress in muscle tissue of tumor-bearing mice. The researchers said DCA could be a practice-changing approach in the future, when used as an adjuvant therapy to treat cancer-related fatigue.
"We hope that this research will provide the bedrock for future clinical trials using dichloroacetate -- an FDA-approved drug for another indication (lactic acidosis) -- to treat the debilitating syndrome of cancer-related fatigue," said Perry, who is also an assistant professor of medicine (endocrinology) and of cellular and molecular physiology at Yale School of Medicine.
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