Surviving-Cancers.com

Chemotherapy’s basic premise is that it preferentially poisons cells that divide rapidly, such as cancer cells. The problem is that other normal cells divide rapidly and chemotherapy affects them as well. The objective is for the cancer to die before other critical tissues are irreparably lost or damaged.

As stated in previous posts, I have not been enthusiastic about the use of chemotherapy against cancer. Too much damage is done to other tissues and the patient may die from the treatment. That opinion may be about to change due to a report from researchers based in Sydney, Australia.

According to the report, non-reproducing bacterial cells can be produced and modified to target receptors specific to cancer cells. Different types of cancer have different types of receptors, so the bacterial cells must be specific for a given type of cancer.

These bacterial cells, not actually alive as they have no chromosomes, are known as minicells and can be “loaded” with various chemicals. Minicells are about 1/5 the size of normal cells and are capable of transporting highly toxic substances.

In a first round of treatment, minicells are infused with materials which reduce cancer cells’ resistance to chemo drugs. Injected into the body, these cells seek out the cancer cells and pretreat them. This step can be repeated as many times as necessary.

A second “wave” of minicells are infused with chemo drugs. When one of these minicells reaches a cancer cell, it attaches to the receptors on that cell and releases the toxin into the cell, causing the cancer cell to die.

As the mini-cells only attach to the cancer cells, the rest of the body is essentially unaffected. This means no damage is done to other tissues and the side effects experienced with systemic chemotherapy administration methods are absent.

By only delivering the chemo drugs to where they are needed, this delivery method reduces the amount of chemo needed, lowering the cost and the need for hospitalization in many cases.

Developed by EnGeneIC and applied to mice and dogs so far, human trials will be started shortly. If all goes well, this will be a huge and exciting advance in the fight against cancer.

Researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston have found proteins secreted by certain types of cancer inhibit metastasis, the migration of cancer cells from the original cancer site to other parts of the body. When cancer spreads through the body, it becomes difficult to treat, making metastasis a leading cause of cancer death.

Metastatic tumor cells produce proteins that encourage tumor growth and attract feeder blood vessels wherever they attach in other organs. Non-metastatic tumors produce a protein called prosaposin that stimulates the production of p53 in surrounding connective tissue. P53 suppresses the production of blood vessels needed to support tumors.

High levels of prosuposin are secreted by non-metastatic, localized prostate and breast tumors while very little of the protein is produced by metastatic ones.

By injecting prosuposin into mice with highly metastatic tumor cells, the researchers reported that lung metastases were reduced by 80% and lymph node metastases disappeared altogether. The treated mice lived 30% longer than those who did not receive the injections.

The results indicate that prosuposin, or derivatives that stimulate p53 activity may be an effective way to inhibit the metastatic process in humans, halting the spread of a cancer.

The study was released online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In a study run over the last two years, it was determined that ginger (zingber officinalis) can reduce nausea in chemotherapy patients. Having been close to two people going through chemotherapy, I know how the nausea and vomiting can reduce a patient’s quality of life.

Those who know me know that I am not a strong advocate of chemotherapy. If it does end up being the treatment chosen, anything which reduces the side effects should be implemented. I have already written about fasting to reduce chemo related damage.

Dr. Julie Ryan, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester medical Center in Rochester, New York led the study on 644 cancer patients, most of whom had breast cancer. All complained of nausea early on and were treated with standard 5-HT3 receptor antagonist antiemetics (anti-nausea drugs).

These patients were divided into four groups, one each taking 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 grams of ginger daily, and the fourth group taking a placebo. All doses were administered as capsules.

Four times a day the patients recorded their levels of nausea on a seven point scale, from no nausea to extremely nauseous. While all patients reported high levels of nausea immediately after chemotherapy, the three groups taking ginger reported within hours feeling 40% less nauseated than those taking the placebo. Interestingly, the lower doses appeared to be more effective than the highest dose.

Results were presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

An 8 to 12 year study has determined that women with non-Hodgekins

lymphoma who drink wine on a regular basis are less likely to suffer a relapse or death.

Xuesong Han, a doctoral candidate in cancer epidemiology

at the Yale School of Public Health, led the study which analyzed 546 women with non-Hodgekins lymphoma. The results were presented at the 100th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The longer a woman drank, the lower her chances of a relapse or death. Those who drank for at least 25 years prior to diagnosis were 26 percent less likely to relapse or to develop secondary cancers and 33 percent less likely to die than those who did not drink wine.

76 percent of women who drank at least 12 glasses of wine over their lifetime were alive five years after diagnosis versus 68 percent of those who drank none.

The best outcomes were found among patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These women had a 40 to 50 percent reduced risk of death which rose to 60 percent if they had drunk wine the previous 25 years.

Other alcoholic beverages such as beer or liquor had no effect on lymphoma risk, relapse, or secondary cancer.

More and more evidence suggests wine contains chemicals that promote good health.

Kristen Anderson, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, led a study linking charred meat with pancreatic cancer.

Her group had previously studied the effects of compounds that form on red meat during high heat cooking.

208 cases of pancreatic cancer were observed in this later 9 year study, based on 62,581 people’s actual diets.   The survey data were taken as a part of the PLCO (Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian) Multi-center Screening Trial.

The people in the study were divided into 5 groups depending on their preferences of how their meat was cooked.  Almost all of the cases of pancreatic cancer occurred in the two groups who preferred their meat well done.  Comparing the groups with the highest consumption of well cooked meat versus the lowest showed a 70% increase in pancreatic cancer incidence.

Frying, grilling, or barbecuing produces heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.  These mutagens and carcinogens are formed in time- and temperature-dependent manners.

Baking, stewing or microwaving and pouring off juices before grilling reduce the precursors of these carcinogenic chemicals.  Cooking longer over a lower heat also kills bacteria without forming carcinogens.  Burned sections of meat should always be trimmed off.

With summer coming on, be aware that those barbecued steaks on the grill, as delicious as they may be, might result in pancreatic cancer.

Two separate studies indicate that coffee and tea may reduce the chance of developing endometrial cancer.  Better known as uterine cancer, it is the fourth most common cancer in women.

One study led by Susan E. McCann of the Roswell Park Cancer Center Institute in Buffalo, New York surveyed 1100 women.  In this study it was found that the chance of developing uterine cancer was

-50% less with 4 cups of coffee and tea a day
-44% less with 2 cups of tea a day
-29% less with 2 cups of coffee a day
-no different with decaffeinated coffee

In the other study, done by Japan’s National Cancer Center, 53,724 women aged 40 to 69 were divided into 4 groups by the amount of coffee consumed.

In the Japanese study it was found that those women who consumed at least 3 cups of coffee a day were 60% less likely to develop endometrial cancer than those who drank coffee less than twice a week.  Green tea was observed to have no effect.

The exact mechanism by which coffee and tea reduce the odds of developing cancer are not known, but both are known to contain flavonoids, catechins, and isoflavenoids.  These substances may reduce the levels of insulin and estrogen in the body.  Increased levels of estrogen appear to play a role in the development of endometrial cancer.

Additionally, caffeine induces enzymes that work to neutralize potential cancer causing substances.

If you are a woman concerned about developing uterine cancer and love your coffee and tea, drink up!

While I post information on cancer research on this blog, I felt it was important to address another issue related to cancer.

In 1989 my wife was diagnosed with sarcoma of the lungs. At the time of the diagnosis it was discovered to have already spread from one lung to the other lung and to her liver. Her oncologist gave her one year to live — two on the outside.

That first stay at the hospital cost several thousand dollars and, at the time I took her home, approximately $800 of medications were required to be picked up at the pharmacy.

Over the next nine months she spent five days out of every fifteen in a hospital bed with an IV dripping chemo drugs into her system. After that we made periodic trips to the hospital as her disease advanced, often seeing various specialists and adding or deleting medications.

More often than not, the payments by the insurance company covered more than one bill… or one bill was split into several payments. Keeping track of the bills from doctors, pharmacies, and various departments of the hospital and submitting them to the insurance company for payment or reimbursement became a nightmare.

By the time my wife passed away, two years after her diagnosis, I had three 1 1/2” binders filled with the paperwork for her illness.

The point I wish to get across is the importance of keeping records in an organized fashion during a very unorganized period of time. When cancer is diagnosed, it turns one’s world upside down and the stress level is high. The last thing a patient or spouse needs is having to deal with the horrendous paperwork.

While some might be able to organize these records as I did, I would suggest using an already developed system such as Amber Bowden’s MedTrakker.  Life would have been much simpler if I had been able to purchase a record keeping system rather than develop my own.

Keeping accurate records is important for many reasons such as taxes, incorrect billing, and seeing what actions are actually being taken in the battle with the disease.

Note: While I strongly advocate the MedTrakker system, I receive no compensation for doing so. Neither do I recieve any commission for sales of the product. I simply believe it to be a good system to save time and energy which can be better spent on fighting the illness.

A group of researchers, led by W. Elaine Hardman, PhD – Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Marshall University School of Medicine, has concluded that eating walnuts may reduce the development of breast cancer tumors.

Laboratory mice were programmed to develop tumors within six months. Divided into two groups, one group was given an ounce of walnuts (about a handful) twice daily, the other group none.

The mice eating walnuts developed tumors three weeks later than those without. This would equal a 9 month delay of incidence in humans. Additionally, the tumors in those mice fed walnuts grew 50% more slowly than those not fed the nuts. The tumors were also smaller and fewer in number.

Molecular analysis showed the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts to have an effect. Perhaps more importantly, phytosterols in the nuts bind to estrogen receptors. These receptors are known to fuel tumors. Binding them prevent this. Lastly, walnuts are high in antioxidants which may have additional cancer fighting effects.

The results were presented at the 100th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Beyond the breast cancer study, additional research is being done for the effect of walnuts on prostate cancer.

On Wednesday, Diane Wysowski of the Food and Drug Administration’s division of drug risk assessment said there are potential links between bisphosphonate drugs prescribed for osteoporosis, and esophageal cancer.

Reports of cancer incidence have been received from the US, Europe, and Japan.  Typically, tumors appeared two years after starting therapy with the drugs.

Such drugs include Merck’s Fosamax, Proctor & Gamble’s Actonel or risedronate and Didronel or etidronate, and Roche’s Boniva or ibandronate.

The drugs were developed to increase bone mass in an effort to treat osteoporosis, a condition which weakens bones.

Other side effects of the drugs have been reported, but the FDA stated in November that the clinical trials showed no overall risk of heart rhythm problems.  Conflicting reports may call for further investigation.

What is known is that the drugs can cause esophagitis, an inflammation of the esophagus.  Now, with the possible link to esophageal cancer, there is added cause for concern with bisphosphonate drugs.

A diet high in inorganic phosphates, commonly added to processed foods such as meats, cheeses, bakery products and beverages may contribute to the development of lung cancer in individuals predisposed to disease.

Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell proliferation in lung tissue and the most lethal of all cancers, being the number one cause of cancer death in the world.

In a study conducted at Seoul National University and led by Dr. Myung-Haing Cho, lung cancer mice were given  a four week diet of either .5 or 1.0 percent phosphate, simulating modern human diets.  When the two levels of dietary phosphates were analyzed, the diet higher in phosphates caused an increase in the size and growth rate of the tumors.

While phosphate is an essential nutrient to living organisms, in high doses it may alter the signaling pathways by which normal cell growth is maintained.  A small alteration in these signaling pathways can cause a normal cell to become malignant.

Rapidly increasing use of phosphates in an increasing number of processed foods may be leading to an increased consumption by as much as 1000mg per day since the 1990s, a three-fold increase.

Due to some smokers higher propensity for developing lung cancer, further studies may be done to correlate the intake of phosphates in these individuals.

The study appeared in the first January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.  It concludes that careful regulation of dietary inorganic phosphate may be critical for lung cancer prevention as well as treatment.