The COC Protocol – How It Works
| Reported anticancer mechanism1 | COC Protocol Medication | Refs |
|---|---|---|
| Reduces availability of nutrients to cancer cells (e.g. glucose, fats, and glutamine) | Metformin, Statin |
Metformin (Rosilio et al., 2014; Saladini et al., 2019) Statins (Babcook et al., 2016) |
| Stimulates and facilitates anti-cancer immune response | Statin, Mebendazole, Metformin, Doxycycline |
Statin (Al Dujaily et al., 2020; Al-Husein et al., 2018; Yongjun et al., 2013) Mebendazole (Blom et al., 2017; Guerini et al., 2019) Metformin (Bahrambeigi and Shafiei-Irannejad, 2019; Eikawa et al., 2015; Kurelac et al., 2019; Pereira et al., 2018) Doxycycline (Lucero-Diaz et al., 2016; Tang et al., 2013, 2017) |
| Places cancer cells under ‘metabolic stress’ | Metformin, Statin, Doxycycline |
Metformin reviewed in (Pernicova and Korbonits, 2014; Troncone et al., 2017) Statin (Clendening and Penn, 2012; Huang et al., 2020; McGregor et al., 2020; Urbano et al., 2017) Doxycycline (De Francesco et al., 2017; Petővári et al., 2018; Tan et al., 2017) |
| Modulates mitochondrial function in cancer cells | Doxycycline, Metformin |
Doxycycline (Lamb et al., 2015a; Ozsvari et al., 2017) Metformin reviewed in (Cazzaniga and Bonanni, 2015) |
| Disrupts cancer cell growth and migration | Metformin, Statin, Mebendazole, Doxycycline |
Statin reviewed in (Altwairgi, 2015) Metformin reviewed in (Chae et al., 2016; Jang et al., 2014; Seliger et al., 2016) Mebendazole (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2002; Pinto et al., 2015) Doxycycline (Fife and Sledge, 1995; Wang et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2015) |
| Induces programmed cancer cell death (apoptosis) | Metformin, Statin, Mebendazole, Doxycycline |
Doxycycline (Fife et al., 1998; Onoda et al., 2006; Son et al., 2009; Song et al., 2014) Mebendazole (Doudican et al., 2008; Mukhopadhyay et al., 2002; Sasaki et al., 2002) Statin (Bayat et al., 2016; Cafforio et al., 2005; Fromigué et al., 2006) Metformin (Gu et al., 2015; Kalinsky et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2014; Yousef and Tsiani, 2017) |
| Blocks cancer cell DNA damage repair | Doxycycline, Mebendazole |
Doxycycline (Lamb et al., 2015b; Peiris-Pagès et al., 2015) Mebendazole (Markowitz et al., 2017), also reviewed in (Guerini et al., 2019) |
| Slows growth of tumor-feeding blood vessels (anti-angiogenic activity) | Mebendazole Metformin |
Mebendazole (Bai et al., 2015), also reviewed in (Guerini et al., 2019) Metformin (Orecchioni et al., 2015; Qian et al., 2018) |
| Targets cancer stem cells and may help make them more vulnerable to standard cancer treatments | Metformin, Statin, Doxycycline |
Metformin (Bao et al., 2014; Brown et al., 2020; Hirsch et al., 2009) Doxycycline (Lamb et al., 2015a; Lin et al., 2018; Scatena et al., 2018; Yang et al., 2015) Statin (Afzali et al., 2016; Bayat et al., 2016; Kato et al., 2018; Kodach et al., 2011; Li et al., 2017; Peng et al., 2017) |
1 This table is a summary of some of the different anticancer mechanisms of action reported for COC Protocol medications by pre-clinical and mechanistic studies published in the medical literature. This list is not exhaustive.