Coenzyme Q-10 and Cancer

This article first appeared in the
September, 1994
issue of VRP's Nutritional News

Last year in our three part series entitled, "Coenzyme Q: The Ubiquitous Quinone," we reviewed the experimental evidence for the utilization of Coenzyme Q-10 in the treatment of many diseases and conditions, including cancer. A recent study, however, has added a new dimension to the usefulness which Coenzyme Q-10 may offer to victims of cancer.The study examined the effect of increasing dosages of Coenzyme Q-10 on patients with breast cancer. Initially these patients were given 90 milligrams of CoQ-10. Of the 32 patients started on this protocol, all survived for 24 months and 6 patients had partial remissions. The authors of this study then took one of the partial responders and increased her dosage to 390 milligrams of CoQ-10 daily. Although the initial 90 milligrams of CoQ-10 had stabilized the tumor at 1.5-2 centimeters in size for one year, the increase in CoQ-10 dosage caused a complete regression of the tumor within 3 months. One of the authors commented that in treating almost 7000 cases of breast cancer over a 35 year practice he, "...has never seen a spontaneous complete regression of a 1.5-2 centimeter breast tumor, and has never seen a comparable regression on any conventional antitumor therapy."Encouraged by this complete regression the authors treated an new case of breast cancer with 300 milligrams daily of CoQ-10. This patient had no evidence of tumor or metastasis 3 months after the initiation of CoQ-10 supplementation. The authors commented that while CoQ-10 has bioenergetic activity, and the mechanism causing tumor regression may be due to the well documented hematological and immunological activity of this "vitamin" (author's word), there may be other actions or mechanisms at work here. The authors conclude with a plea to investigate the effect of high dosage CoQ-10 in patients with varied types of tumors.

Reference:
K. Lockwood, S. Moesgard, K. Folkers, Bioch Biophys Res Commun 1994; 199: 1504-1508.