Quercetin Effects on Ovarian Cancer

Cancer in one or both of the ovaries is an often deadly cancer, especially since over 60% of new cases are not diagnosed until it has already metastasized. Less than half of white women, and only a little over a third of black women, typically survive for five years after diagnosis.⁵⁸

Quercetin may offer some hope for terminally ill patients with ovarian cancer. A Phase I clinical trial with 51 patients suffering from a range of different cancers no longer treatable by standard therapies (but with life expectancies of 12 weeks or more) were given quercetin intravenously. Although some patients experienced some renal toxicity, this was alleviated by intravenous administration of saline (for hydration) before and after administration of the quercetin. The one patient in the group with stage-4 ovarian cancer who had only shown a minimal response to standard chemotherapy had a dramatic and sustained positive response to quercetin treatment. Despite entering the study with extensive metastases in the pelvic region and liver, and CA125 levels of 290, her CA125 levels dropped to 55 after two courses of quercetin and fell further to 45 after 6 months of treatment with quercetin and carboplatin (a synthetic chemotherapy regimen).⁵⁹