Written by Luc Geeraert and the CAM-Cancer Consortium.
Updated August 2, 2011

Insulin potentiation therapy

Abstract and key points

  • Insulin is claimed to potentiate the effects of chemotherapy, enabling the use of much lower doses of chemotherapy.
  • The mechanism of potentiation of chemotherapy is unclear.
  • The effects of IPT on long-term survival or its influence on quality of life have not been reported in peer-reviewed journals.
  • Due to the lack of published studies, the safety of IPT is hard to judge but it has been associated with several risks.

Insulin potentiation therapy (IPT) is a treatment regimen using insulin as an adjunct to conventional chemotherapy. It is claimed that insulin potentiates the effects of chemotherapy, which would enable a 75-90% reduction of the usual and customary doses of anticancer drugs thus reducing the risk of their adverse effects.

Although some hypotheses have been put forward, it is unclear by which mechanisms the claimed insulin potentiation of chemotherapy would work and the few published in vitro studies do not help to clarify this.

Clinical evidence is as yet lacking, with only one small prospective, randomized clinical trial and one case report published in peer-reviewed journals. Although they reported encouraging preliminary results on tumor growth, effects on quality of life, patient survival, or long-term effects were not evaluated.

IPT is associated with risks such as hypoglycemia, and the reduced anticancer effects of lower doses of chemotherapeutic drugs potentially leading to drug resistance. IPT might even promote tumor growth.

Overall, due to a lack of information published in peer-reviewed journals, it is impossible to judge the efficacy and safety of IPT.

Citation

Luc Geeraert, CAM-Cancer Consortium. Insulin potentiation therapy [online document]. http://www.cam-cancer.org/CAM-Summaries/Dietary-approaches/Insulin-potentiation-therapy. August 2, 2011.

Document history

References

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