Insulin potentiation therapy: a new concept in the management of chronic degenerative disease.

In insulin potentiation therapy the hormone insulin is used as an adjunct in the medical management of the chronic degenerative diseases including malignant neoplasia. In this, the recognized physiological action of insulin--that of increasing cell membrane permeability--is taken advantage of to potentiate the pharmacological actions of medications administered concurrently in the therapy. This potentiation occurs because of the heretofore unrecognized applicability of this membrane permeabilizing effect of insulin to a much wider range of tissues than is classicly accepted, and further the observed effect of this permeabilizing phenomenon as it relates to drug molecules, most importantly the antineoplastic agents. The historical context of insulin potentiation therapy is described, and scientific corroboration for its novel hypotheses is given. Insulin potentiation therapy represents a potentially revolutionary concept in the medical management of diseases and is, in the authors' opinion, deserving of intensive scientific investigation through in vitro and in vivo experimentation and properly conducted human clinical trials in a university teaching hospital setting.