IP₆ & Inositol as Anticancer Agents:

In the laboratory, IP₆ ± Inositol have been shown to have consistent and reproducible anti-cancer action against a wide range of cancer models (eg. breast, colon, leukemia, liver, lung,  lymphoma, prostate, sarcoma etc) making it a broad-spectrum anti-cancer agent. This anti-cancer action is both preventive and therapeutic, and the combination of IP₆ + Inositol in correct proportion (US Patent # 5,082,833) yields the best results. Emerging clinical data confirm the laboratory findings.

Shown are two mice #11 and #12 harboring human liver cancer. The mouse on the upper panel shows complete regression of the tumor 1 week after IP₆ treatment (40 mg/kg/day; right frame), whereas within the same period, the tumor in its sibling on the lower panel has grown 2-3 fold in size (right frame) 

 Clinical Studies:

Several clinical studies of the efficacy of IP₆+Inositol were presented at the 7th International Conference of Anticancer Research in Corfu, Greece, October 25-30, 2004. These included cancers of the colon, lungs and breast. Patients were treated with IP₆+Inositol (8-24 gm/day) either with or without concurrent standard chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. It was reported that IP₆+Inositol reduced the chemo- and radiotherapy induced side-effects and acted synergistically to yield a much better response to treatment; at the very least, the patients enjoyed a better quality of life (Anticancer Research Volume 24 No. 5D, September – October 2004; pages 3474-3475 and 3617-3618). The CT scan below of a 63 year old patient with stage IV colon cancer metastatic to liver (left) shows a reduction in tumor size in about 4 months. 

Unlike most other anti-cancer agents, IP₆ and Inositol are not cytotoxic, i.e they themselves do not kill cancer cells at the pharmacological dose; at high doses they induce apoptosis (programmed cell death). IP₆ and Inositol rather tame the cancer cells to behave and look like normal cells (differentiation). While the cancer cells grow uncontrolled, the differentiated cells do not. Increased differentiation by IP₆ was seen in all the cancer cell lines tested viz those from cancer of the breast, colon cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, rhabdomyosarcoma (childhood cancer of muscle tissue) and liver cancer cell lines. Secretion or expression of various tumor markers from these cancers decrease as a result of treatment with IP₆; eg PSA (prostate specific antigen) for prostate cancer, alpha feto-protein (AFP) for liver cancer etc. Thus, the efficacy of IP₆+Inositol treatment may be monitored by the levels of tumor markers.