Treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia using zinc adjuvant with chemotherapy and radiation--a case history and hypothesis.

Low blood levels of zinc are often noted in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), but zinc is not administered as part of any modern chemotherapy program in the treatment of ALL. Upon noting low blood levels of zinc in a 3-year-old 11.3 kg girl, zinc at the rate of 3.18 mg/kg body weight/day was administered from the start of chemotherapy through the full 3 years of maintenance therapy. Dosage was split with 18 mg given at breakfast and 18 mg zinc with supper. The result was a bone marrow remission from 95+% blast cells to an observed zero blast cell count in both hips within the first 14 days of treatment which never relapsed. In addition to the reduction of blast cells to an observed count of zero (not a single leukemic or normal blast), red blood cell production and other hemopoietic functions returned to normal at a clinically remarkable rate. There were no side effects from zinc or chemotherapy at any time, and zinc is hypothesized to have improved the patient's overall ability to withstand toxic effects of chemotherapy. This report identifies zinc treatment as being vital to rapid and permanent recovery from ALL. The extremely broad role of zinc in pre-leukemic adverse health conditions, viral, fungal and tumoral immunity, hemopoietics, cell growth, division and differentiation, genetics and chemotherapy interactions are considered. If a nutrient such as zinc could be shown to strengthen the function of chemotherapy and immune function, then it could be hypothesized that the relapse rate would be lessened since the relapse rate is related to both the rate at which a remission is obtained and the thoroughness of the elimination of leukemic blasts. Identical results also occurred in 13 other children with ALL whose parents chose to treat with zinc adjuvant. Since treatment with zinc and other identified deficient nutrients, particularly magnesium, did not appear injurious in ALL and they appear to be highly beneficial, controlled clinical studies of zinc (3.18 mg/kg body weight/day) with magnesium (8.0 mg/kg body weight/day) as adjuvants to chemotherapy in the treatment of childhood ALL are suggested. Treatment with zinc adjuvant is hypothesized to accelerate recovery from ALL, and in conjunction with chemotherapy, cure ALL.