Anticancer RESEARCH 15: 2643-2650, 1995

The Use of a Whey Protein Concentrate in the Treatment of Patients With Metastatic Carcinoma: a Phase I-ii Clinical Study

RENEE S. KENNEDY¹, GEORGE P. KONOK¹, GUSTAVO BOUNOUS², SYLVAIN BARUCHEL³ and TIMOTHY D.G. LEE⁴

¹ Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia:

² Department of Surgery, McGill University, Montreal Quebec

³ Department of Pediatrics and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec:

⁴ Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

ABSTRACT - Glutathione (GSH) concentration is high in most tumor cells and this may be an important factor in resistance to chemotherapy. Previous in-vitro and animal experiments have shown a differential response of tumor versus normal cells to various cysteine delivery systems. More specifically, an in-vitro assay showed that at concentrations that induce GSH synthesis in normal human cells, a specially prepared whey protein concentrate, Immunocal™, caused GSH depletion and inhibition of proliferation in human breast cancer cells. On the basis of this information five patients with metastatic carcinoma of the breast, one of the pancreas and one of the liver were fed 30 grams of this whey protein concentrate daily for six months. In six patients the blood lymphocyte GSH levels were substantially above normal at the outset, reflecting high tumor GSH levels. Two patients (#1, #3) exhibited signs of tumor regression, normalization of haemoglobin and peripheral lymphocyte counts and a sustained drop of lymphocyte GSH levels towards normal. Two patients (#2, #7) showed stabilization of the tumor, increased haemoglobin levels. In three patients (#4, #5, #6) the disease progressed with a trend toward higher lymphocyte GSH levels. These results indicate that whey protein concentrate might deplete tumor cells of GSH and render than more vulnerable to chemotherapy.