For the last several blogs I have been talking about cancer and metastasis.  In most cases, it is not the primary tumor you have to worry about – it is the circulating cancer cells.  Once you surgically remove the primary tumor, the probability that the cancer seeds flowing through your blood vessels and those cancer seeds that have found a new home in your body are switched on – so to speak.  Biochemical processes in your body encourage the remaining cancer cells to start growing from their dormant state.  The two key concerns you should have are how many of them are flowing throughout your body; and, secondly, how genetically different are they?  There is a strong likelihood that you have cancer seeds in your blood stream and that those cancer seeds are genetically different than your primary tumor.

Let’s explore the defenses that your tumor has to fight conventional chemotherapy.  Two-thirds of all breast cancer cells are HER2 (Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2) negative and estrogen receptor positive.  A standard chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer is a combination of three chemo drugs – Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Taxol.  Taxol has been shown to be minimally effective, if at all, HER2 is negative and the patient’s estrogen receptor is positive.  So, what about the other two chemo drugs used in that combination treatment?  Adriamycin is also ineffective in treating breast cancer patients with a negative HER2 (which is approximately 80%)  Four out of five women patients would receive no benefit from Adriamycin.  Taxol and Adriamycin have some serious side effects.  Why give it as part of your treatment if it is not effective?  Wouldn’t it be nice to know ahead of time what the genetic disposition of your cancer is before starting your cancer treatment?  To confuse thing further, your primary tumor can be the reverse of your circulating cancer cells – you treat the primary tumor and the circulating cancer seeds are not impacted at all by the chemotherapy regimen.

The battle against cancer must be fought at the cellular level.  You need to know as much as possible about the primary tumor and the circulating tumor cells as possible before treatment.  The chemo drug fluorouracil (5-FU) requires activation by the cancer cell by the enzyme uridine phosphorylase.  There are cancer cells that are resistant to 5-FU.  Why use 5-FU if you know ahead of time if the cancer cell is resistant to that particular chemo drug?  Gemzar is another chemo drug which requires activation by the cancer cell by another enzyme – deoxycytidine kinase (DCK).  Cancer cells vary the amount of DCK they produce – hence, if you know that your primary tumor and/or circulating cancer seeds are deficient or have little DCK, why use Gemzar as the prescribed treatment?  Adriamycin (doxorubicin) targets an essential enzyme, topoisomerase 2 to be effective.  The level of topoisomerase 2 varies in the tumor.  Those cancer cells with high levels of this enzyme respond well to Adriamycin.

There are some tumors that can actually take the chemo drug and modify it or make it nearly ineffective.  5-FU is degraded by dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD).  Some cancer cells have very high levels of DPD and render 5-FU useless.  Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) requires the cancer cell to produce the enzyme gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (GCS).  Tumors produce varying amounts of GCS – those tumors with higher levels of GCS negate a large effect of Cytoxan in attempting to kill the cancer cell.  There are a series of platinum chemo drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin, etc.)  Platinum chemo drugs work effectively when they can attack the cancer cell’s DNA.  Some cancer cells produce a ‘repair mechanism’ to combat platinum chemo drugs.  It is called excision repair cross-complementation 1 (ERCC1) protein.  Cancer cells with high levels of the ERCC1 protein can repair the damage done by the platinum chemo drugs to the cancer cell’s DNA making the tumor nearly immune to platinum chemo drugs.

Methotrexate works by blocking an enzyme (dihydrofolate reductase – DHFR) inside the cancer cell.  Some tumors can recognize the presence of an enzyme blocker and produce more DHFR to reverse the effect of Methotrexate.  An interesting cancer capability is seen when the MDR1 (multidrug resistance 1) gene is used to convey certain chemo drugs completely through the tumor without allowing any activation while the chemo drug was present inside the cancer cell.  Tumors that have high amounts of MDR1 are very resilient to the chemo drugs, vincristine, Taxol, mitimycin C, and Adriamycin.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know how much MDR1 is present in your tumor and circulating cancer cells before beginning treatment?

There are some natural supplements that can be used effectively to help combat some of the cancer cell’s defenses.  Nuclear factor-kappaB (Nf-kB) is used by some tumors to grow.  Curcumin inhibits Nf-kB.  A patient with cancer cells containing high amounts of NF-kB would probably benefit from using the natural supplement, curcumin.  Several cancer cells produce glutathione S-transferase pi (GST-pi).  GST-pi is used to withstand the effects of numerous chemo drugs.  Pomegranate contains ellagic acid which prevents the effectiveness of GST-pi.

The traditional ‘one size fits all’ approach to treat cancer has new hope in CTC (circulating tumor cell) analysis.  CTC analysis can tell the details your doctor needs to know before recommending a treatment.  CTC examines the nuances of the circulating cancer seeds and provides a better, more viable option in the total treatment of your primary and any floating metastatic cancer cells.  Don’t accept the ‘standard’ treatment.  Demand to know what kind of cancer cell you have and whether a particular chemo drug is effective against the cancer cell’s defenses.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) can be detected, counted and evaluated.  Recent technology gains give scientists a capability that didn’t exist just a few years ago.  CTC are cancer seeds looking for a home.  They travel through your blood stream until they die, they find a home, they become damaged or they become the target of your white blood cells.  Three out of four of those conditions allow are good for you because the wandering cancer seeds will not impact your health.  Those that find a home may develop new tumor sites in the conditions are right.

Cancer seeds typically come from a growing primary tumor that has found a home somewhere in your body.  However, the CTC might be identical to the primary cancer.  If they are, then any treatment that you give to fight the primary tumor will also fight the CTC.  If the CTC are not identical, then any treatment given to eradicate the primary tumor may have little to no effect of the CTC.  That’s important to you.  You think that because you had chemo and radiation and the primary tumor is shrinking that all is good.  It might be good and it might not be.  There is a test today that can measure your risk and determine what options might be better.  In a future blog I will discuss the ability to analyze the CTC to determine what options might be more sensible.

A lot of recent studies have shown that the cancer seeds floating throughout your body are actually different than the primary tumor that your doctor can see and measure.  The measuring equipment can count the number of CTC in 7.5 milliliters of blood and determine you risk of survival.  It appears that 5 or more CTC per 7.5 ml of blood is bad news, especially if they are genetically different than your primary tumor.

Allow me to lay out a scenario or two about what is important to know before any kind of treatment.  You have a primary tumor and you have no idea that you might have circulating cancer seeds looking for a home – almost the worst case scenario.  It becomes the worst case scenario when those CTC are not genetically the same as your primary tumor.  The next scenario gives you information about the number of CTC floating in through your blood stream.  It is not good news if the CTC number is 5 or greater.  It is the worst news if the CTC count is five or greater and they are genetically different that your primary tumor.  The best scenario is that you have no CTC in your blood stream; or, if you have less than a count of 5 and they are genetically similar to your primary tumor.  For whatever reason, the number 5 is magical.  It means that your chance of survival doubles if it is less than 5.

Here are a few quick examples.  Thirty-five women with non-metastatic breast cancer – 17 tested positive for CTC and 18 did not.  The group of 18 had an average survival rate of 125 months compared to 61 months for the group of 17 which tested positive for CTC with a count over 5. Let’s look at another test, this time with 151 women with metastatic breast cancer.  Those women with 5 or more CTC had a median survival rate of 13.5 months.  Those with less than 5 had a survival rate of 29 months.  Another test with men showed similar results.  Thirty-seven men with metastatic prostate cancer showed the group with a CTC of 5 or more had a survival rate of 8.4 months.  Those with a CTC under 5 showed a survival rate of 48 months.

The success of surgery is greatly improved if your surgeon knows the CTC number before surgery.  CTC numbers can actually predict the success of surgery.  In another study with 138 men with prostate cancer, those with CTC were compared to those without CTC.  Those with CTC were twelve times more likely to have an unsuccessful surgery.  CTC testing is superior to PSA tests and the Gleason score in predicting the overall success or failure of surgery.

CTC has shown better predictive effectiveness when compared to CT and MRI scans.  In a test comparing CTC to CT and MRI, the results were evaluated by two noted and independent radiologists.  After four weeks, the patients were measured using conventional imaging (CT and MRI) and their CTC were also tested.  Success was greater with CTC readings below 5.  The CTC testing was more reliable and consistent compared to the imaging studies.  Imaging evaluations were not consistent in 15% of the cases compared to 1% inconsistency in the CTC testing.  CTC testing gives your doctor an earlier picture of what to expect for the various options of treatment.

During the course of any cancer treatment, CTC has shown to be a better predictor of treatment success or failure.  If your CTC did not change, then your doctor knows sooner and other options can be employed much earlier than waiting for imaging scans days later.  CTC gives you a good assessment regarding the effectiveness of your cancer treatment - the success or failure.  CTC has been shown recently to predict the recurrence of cancer after surgery.  Negative CTC readings after surgery indicate little likelihood of cancer recurrence compared to positive CTC readings in a number of analyses.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Cancer prevention can be done in two ways, as I understand it – with natural foods and supplements – and – with chemoprevention.  The generic term ‘chemoprevention’ includes natural and laboratory-made drugs to prevent a disease, primarily cancer.  Yet, when I research chemoprevention, I cannot find any natural foods or supplements.  Everything I find is related to a drug (Tamoxifen, Raloxifen, Anastrozole, Exemestane, Letrozole, etc.).  The side effects and risks are such that I ask myself, “Why would I elect to take a drug with known side effects and health risks versus a food or natural supplement without known side effects and health risks?”  It just doesn’t make sense to me.  I realize that the FDA will not allow a food or natural supplement to be advertized or to claim that they prevent or cure a disease.  However, there are a lot of nutrients that provide some significantly beneficial corrective and preventive health advantages.

Allow me to concentrate on some chemopreventive mediators that have shown amazing results in blocking cancer development and growth.  Apigenin is found in parsley, celery and artichokes – and, benzyl-isothiocyanate (BITC) is found in cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, kale, radish and many others).  Population based studies have shown that higher consumption of these vegetables usually results in lower rates of various types of cancers (primarily colon, prostate, lung and breast).  Tumors require a blood supply to grow.  Laboratory, animal and human organ studies have shown that apigenin reduces angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) in tumors.  Researchers have also found apigenin has a secondary impact on cancer growth by starving cancer cells of energy by shutting down the glucose-transporting proteins that give cancer cells the power to grow.

There are several mechanisms that allow cancers to grow from a single cell to a large tumor.  Inhibit any of these mechanisms and you can slow down or stop cancer growth.  Laboratory studies are showing that apigenin inhibits some sources of inflammation which triggers certain cancer cells to grow.  Apigenin has also been shown to cause apoptosis (cancer cell suicide) in laboratory animals.  Last year, Harvard’s Channing Laboratory reported that apigenin was associated with a significant reduction in cancer risk.  After this study, apigenin was recommended to be included as a chemopreventive regimen.

Population studies of BITC (benzyl-isothiocyanate) have shown similar results to apigenin, particularly with lung, breast and colon cancers.  BITC also causes apoptosis by impeding the energy cycle within a cancer cell.  Cancer cells have a program that allows them to grow given access to certain biochemical actions.  BITC has been shown to change this cell programming and to arrest the growth of certain cancers, particularly in breast cancer.  As a natural nutrient, BITC does not affect any healthy cells while causing the destruction of cancer cells.  BITC also binds to certain proteins, especially tubulin.  Tubulin is essential for cancer cells to replicate.  Another biochemical action that allows cancer cells to grow is access to certain enzymes.  BITC impedes cancer encouraging cytochrome enzymes.  For cancer cells to grow, they require an environment that accepts them – a place where they can attach themselves, build a home and develop a nice blood supply.  BITC has been shown to moderate the attachment or adhesion of cancer cells to certain organs.  In your pancreas, BITC has been used to intensify the results of radiation so that the level of radiation can be reduced and get the same results.  BITC also increases the manufacture of reactive oxygen in your pancreas which is a factor in annihilating cancer cells.

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is also found in cruciferous vegetables.  I3C has been shown to control your gene switches that turns on protective genes to combat cancer; and, to turn off genes which are a factor in cancer formation and inflammation.  I3C is converted in your stomach to diindolylmethane (DIM).  DIM encourages production of interferon gamma which is a potent immune regulatory molecule in fighting cancer.  DIM blocks the angiogenesis process and shuts off the cancer cell’s access to blood and energy.  Studies have shown increased rates of apoptosis when DIM is used, particularly in prostate and breast cancers.  DIM is used in combination with regular chemotherapy protocols in treating pancreatic and certain lung cancers that have been resistant to conventional chemotherapy medication.

Sulforaphane is also found in cruciferous vegetables.  Sulforaphane has been shown to attack cancer cells on many levels – apoptosis, gene switching, angiogenesis, etc.  It also detoxifies potential carcinogens and prevents the early formation of cancer.  Remarkable results have been shown in blocking cancers generated by ultraviolet radiation.  Sulforaphane has been used in China (province of Qidong) to prevent toxin-induced cancers.  Qidong has the highest rate of liver cancer in the world because many of the foods are contaminated with the fungal carcinogen aflatoxin.  Chinese researches discovered the healing effects of a broccoli sprout tea to combat the aflatoxin effects in their population.

Cruciferous vegetables and vegetables containing apigenin offer a multi-faceted approach to preventing, containing and combating cancer.  I personally do not care for the taste or smell (raw or cooked) of certain cruciferous vegetables.  Extracts of these vegetables and supplements provide the same or nearly the same protection as the natural foods.  Natural foods can provide you with a healthier body to boost your protection against cancer.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Pharmaceutical companies can’t make money selling natural products.  If tomorrow, a major breakthrough occurred and it was determined that garlic cured fifteen of the top twenty diseases prevalent in the United States, the pharmaceutical companies could not package garlic and sell it as a drug.  It turns out that one of these natural products might actually have passed enough testing to be considered a cure for certain kinds of cancers – prostate, breast and ovarian.  Maybe ‘cure’ is too strong a word to use; so, allow me to say that instead of using the word ‘cure’ we might consider using the word ‘treat.’  The 2-methoxyestradiol molecule has been around for decades and not much attention has been given to it.  Now, the FDA is being requested to allow the pharmaceutical companies to rename and repackage this molecule into a ‘new’ product called Panzem.

Our bodies produce the steroid hormones estrogens and androgens.  Estrogens (estradiol, estrone and estriol) are molecules made up of 18 carbon atoms.  Androgens (testosterone, androstenedione, dehydrotestosterone, androstenediol and dehydroepiandrosterone) are also 18 carbon molecules.  2-methoxyestradiol (2M) has been considered to be inactive for years.  It turns out that it is not; and, it has been found to be a very effective and potent anti-carcinogenic estrogen metabolite.  This metabolite is formed in your liver.  As an anti-carcinogen, 2M has been shown to cause apoptosis (causes cancer cells to commit suicide – a programmed cellular death).  Apoptosis causes tumors from growing.  2M was used in combination with several chemotherapy drugs and showed significant success.  In fact, some cancers have developed a resistance to different chemo treatments.  When 2M was added to the cancer-resistant chemo, the effectiveness of the combination chemo treatment was successful.  2M has also been shown to inhibit angiogenesis in tumors – the formation of new blood vessels that allow tumors to grow.  Additionally, 2M has been shown to hinder or stall the spread of cancer by metastasis.

A very recent Mayo Clinic study reported the following, “A new study of an estrogen-derived drug shows promise as a treatment for breast cancer and breast cancer metastases to bone. A drug that has shown promise in treating sarcoma, lung and brain cancers, demonstrates that the drug may also be effective in treating breast cancer, in particular the spread of breast cancer.” This ‘drug’ test was done using 2M, but 2M is not a drug – it’s a natural estrogen.  Laboratory studies definitely demonstrate that 2M is effective and synergistic in combination with a chemotherapy treatment, or by itself.  The benefit of using it in combination with chemotherapy treatments is that you can lower the dosage of the chemo component to reduce the side effects of the chemo drug.  Typically 2M is given orally in large doses.  Work is being done to develop an injection capability so that large doses are not needed because 2M is metabolized in your liver.  The Mayo Clinic found that 2M successfully targets breast cancer cells and prevents the spread (metastasis) from your breast to your bones.  2M alone has few adverse side effects and very little toxicity.

So, where do you sign me up for 2M?  It’s not available yet for public consumption.  And, there is a major push by interested parties to keep you from getting it.  Normally, a compounding pharmacy can make bioidentical hormones.  2M is not that difficult to make, but compounding pharmacies cannot get the chemical suppliers to provide the raw ingredients.  If they could, your doctor could give you a prescription for 2M.  Nevertheless, you can build up your internal supply by eating the right foods and nutrients – green vegetables, citrus, nuts, SAMe, MSM, and certain B vitamins.  For you body to produce 2M it must have adequate supplies of methyl donor molecules.  Fresh and raw foods that have not been heated or frozen offer the best option for healthy methyl donor molecules.  Supplements that supply methyl donor molecules are S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), betaine and betaine hydrochloride, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (a form of folic acid) and methylcobalamin (a form of vitamin B12).  Vitamin B12 is typically found as cyanocobalamin or methylcobalamin – the difference being the methyl group or the cyano group attached to the molecule.  I prefer the methylcobalamin based on the various articles I have read.  I’ll explain more in a blog on B vitamins.  Your body regularly produces 2M with the right ingredients.  However, if you stress your body, or allow it to become run down, the efficiency of that production is degraded and the methyl donor molecules are used to generate adrenaline instead of 2M.  If you are stressed, use various options to reduce that stress – meditation, biofeedback, etc.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Why would surgical removal of a tumor cause new cancer cell growth at the micrometastasis sites in your body?  It is somewhat counterintuitive – if I cut something out, why would it have an effect of what is left?  One of the processes in your body is called angiogenesis.  This process produces new blood vessels from pre-existing blood vessels.  Your body requires angiogenesis in order to grow and for certain types of healing.  Your tumor commandeers this process and causes blood vessels to begin developing within the tumor so that it can grow.  Tumors cannot grow without new blood vessels – their maximum size without new blood support is 1-2 millimeters, about the size of a pinhead.

Getting back to my original question – how can a removed tumor cause new cancers to grow in different locations in your body?  When a tumor takes control of new blood vessel creation for its own use, it produces a factor, an anti-angiogenic factor, which curbs the development of metastases elsewhere in your body.  So long as the tumor is in place and growing, other cancer locations will remain dormant.  Cut the tumor out and you have shut down the anti-angiogenic factor which prevents further cancer growth and allows metastasis cells to begin growing.  These new sites begin usurping your angiogenesis process and new blood vessels are directed into your newly growing tumors.

There is a double-whammy attached to surgical removal of tumors.  The first is the inhibition of anti-angiogenic factors and the second is the increase in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).  VEGF is another factor which causes an increase in angiogenesis.  The surgical process actually turns on VEGF and keeps it elevated for a while after surgery.  VEGF causes your angiogenesis factor – new blood vessel growth – to go into hyper drive – and provides new blood supplies to the latent microscopic cancer cells.

What recourse do you have to reduce, inhibit or stabilize your angiogenesis factor after surgery?  If you can shut down the increase in VEGF, then you can shut down the hyper drive component of new blood vessel growth.  Several common nutrients inhibit VEGF.  They are epigallocatechin (EGCG) from green tea, curcumin, chrysin, silibinin, and genistein from soy isoflavones.  Some studies have shown up to an 80% reduction in VEGF and angiogenesis using select nutrients against certain cancers.  Even without surgery, some of these nutrients have been shown to reduce the size of certain existing tumors in test animals.

Curcumin is an interesting nutrient because it is a directly obstructs the angiogenesis factor process and VEGF.  Additionally, curcumin blocks the cancer cell adhesion process, which restricts where cancer cells can land and build a new home.  Some surgeons begin their patients with a regimen of certain nutrients (EGCG, curcumin, and soy genistein extracts) up to one week before surgery to squash the VEGF factor.

Studies have shown that general anesthesia and morphine can cause metastasis growth after surgery.  General anesthesia weakens and reduces your NK (natural killer cells that attack cancer cells) cells.  Morphine is typically used after surgery for pain control.  Morphine weakens your immune system immediately following surgery when you need it the most, which further reduces the NK cell support that you need.

Regional anesthesia reduces the amount of general anesthesia required during surgery – this reduces the impact on your NK cells.  Regional anesthesia has been shown to reduce the amount of morphine needed for post-operative pain control.  Experiments with laboratory animals showed up to a 70% reduction in the overall impact of metastasis advancement compared to general anesthesia alone.  In human studies, some cancer surgeries employing regional anesthesia showed almost no impact on NK cell degradation.  Regional anesthesia has also shown reductions in recurrence of cancer after a three-year follow-up for breast cancer surgery.  Regional anesthesia has also shown significant improvement in post-operative recovery.

If you are bound for cancer surgery, regional anesthesia might be an important topic to talk about with your anesthesiologist.  Another topic to include in your discussion is the use of tramadol instead of morphine for post surgery pain control.  Tramadol does not hinder your normal immune system function.  Additionally, tramadol does not inhibit your NK cell activity.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Your immune system protects you from diseases, virus and other pathogens.  It plays a very important role in protecting you from cancer.  One of the many soldiers employed by your immune system is the natural killer (NK) cell.  NK cells are a unique category of white blood cells that are assigned a primary mission of finding and destroying all types of cancer cells.  NK cells are very good predictors of cancer also.  Recent studies have shown that your risk of surviving or dying from cancer is directly correlated to your NK cell level.  Low levels of NK cells typically indicate a higher risk of dying from certain types of cancer; and, higher levels of NK cells suggest a better chance of survival.

So, if your immune system is so good about hunting and annihilating cancer cells, how did you manage to grow a good sized tumor?  Obviously your immune system didn’t do its job.  Let’s assume that your immune system is marginal and you are about to have surgery, will surgery help kick-start your immune system once the tumor is removed?  NO!  Actually, many studies have documented massive reductions, some as much as 50% reduction, in NK cells immediately after surgery.  Some researchers believe that surgery causes a temporary blip, or reset, in your immune system’s capability, and may permit the cancer you had removed to gain easier entry to other parts of your body.

What can you do to help yourself?  There are natural, pharmaceutical and medical options that are known to increase your NK cell levels – these can be administered prior to surgery to enhance your immune system’s ability to fight any future tumor growth and reduce the risk of prospective metastasis.  PSK (protein-bound polysaccharide K) is a natural supplement derived from the mushroom, Coriolus versicolor.  PSK has been shown in numerous studies to boost NK cells.  Studies using PSK have shown dramatic survival rates after ten years compared to not using PSK as part of the chemotherapy treatments.  Particular noteworthy success has been seen in breast, stomach, esophagus and uterine cancers.  Garlic, glutamine, inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), mistletoe extract, active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) and lactoferrin are nutraceuticals with demonstrated histories of raising the levels of NK cells.  Researchers in Germany discovered the mistletoe extract administered with the anesthesia averted the expected inhibition of NK cells following cancer surgeries.

Interferon-alpha and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor are two pharmaceuticals used to raise NK cell levels.  Both of these drugs prevented NK cell repression following cancer surgeries.  Interleukin-1 has shown similar results.  Medical research has shown that the consistent approach would be to begin enhancing NK cells at least five days before cancer surgery.

There has been some recent activity using cancer vaccines to treat cancer.  The vaccine targets cancer cells with the same efficiency that vaccines attack infectious diseases.  The big difference is that infectious disease vaccines are typically not made with the patients own cells.  Cancer vaccines are produced by removing the patient’s own cancer cells during surgery.  This is particularly important because cancers have a unique genetic make-up in your body – harvesting these same inherent cancer cells allows the body to rapidly target them directly against any residual tumors left after surgery and against any circulating cancer seeds.  The uniqueness of the cancer vaccine helps your immune system by actively killing any remaining cancer cells.  Additionally, the distinctive vaccine made from your cancer identifies specific markers of your cancer cells and makes it easier for your body to find and destroy those cancer cells.

There have been a number of success stories related to cancer vaccines that were given after surgery.  Survival rates were increased, as was the rate of recurrence of cancer and the development of metastasis.  Since you are using your own body’s cancer cells, the safety factor is very high.  Cancer vaccines are regarded as a calm to mild treatment compared to other post-operative procedures.

The type of surgery can expedite the future growth of cancer seeds.  I believe that most physicians are in agreement that laparoscopic surgery is less traumatic and less invasive compared to normal ‘open’ surgeries.  Laparoscopic surgery has been shown to reduce the risk of metastasis also.  Studies comparing open surgeries to laparoscopic surgeries show consistent reduction in cancer recurrence and increases in post surgery survival rates.  Laparoscopic surgery usually results in less post-operative pain, decreased blood loss, reduced complications and moderates the impact of the surgery on your immune system.  Patients having laparoscopic surgery generally return to a normal life much earlier than patients having open surgery.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Assume for a moment that you have elected to have surgery to remove a tumor.  Removal of your tumor provides an excellent chance to live a long and health life.  However, metastatic disease is the most prevalent cause of cancer related death.  Are you safe if you have your primary tumor removed?  Sometimes yes, and sometime no!  There is no guarantee that the doctor has removed the entire tumor, and left no microscopic cancer cells remaining.  Or, the removal and post-operative treatment did not kill all the cancer cells that might be circulating in your blood stream or lymphatic system.  You do have a risk of recurring cancer and you have some options to reduce that risk.

Cancer metastasis is complicated. Cancer cells just down fall off the primary tumor and enter the blood stream and find a new home and begin growing.  I blogged yesterday about cancer seeds being released from the primary tumor.  Let me stay with the term cancer seed to keep things in perspective.  Cancer seeds have to break free from the primary tumor and begin a journey to your blood stream or lymphatic system.  There is considerable connective tissue associated with the primary cancer that has to be overcome before it even has a chance at further travel in your body.  The cancer seed excretes enzymes to enter your blood stream.

Studies have shown that turbulence in the blood stream can actually damage or destroy the cancer seeds.  White blood cells are constantly on the alert for any foreign bodies in your blood stream and will attack these rogue cells at any opportunity.  Once the cancer seed finds a new home, it must exit the blood stream the same way it entered it – an enzyme attack.  Then the cancer seed has to push and shove and burrow into a new home before it can start multiplying and growing.  Cancer seeds have a finite life – if they don’t complete their journey in a timely manner, then die.

Left all alone, the cancer seed has a long and arduous journey and the probability of success is low.  But, there are things that you can do to help it gain an easier foothold into a new organ and begin growing a new tumor.  When you have surgery to remove the tumor, you have opened pathways automatically for any cancer seeds to enter your blood stream.  Surgery also increases the risk of metastasis by augmenting the cancer seed’s adhesion.  Adhesion allows the cancer seeds to clump together and form colonies.  These colonies then expand and become a new tumor.  There is very little likelihood that a single cancer seed will develop into a full-blown tumor.  The adhesion process is facilitated by galectin-3 adhesion molecules.  Think of Velcro – this Velcro allows the cancer seed to get a better grasp on the interior of the blood vessel and to the organ of choice.

For whatever reason, the surgery activates the galectin-3 process.  Studies have shown that just non-surgical procedures used to imitate a surgery increased the adhesion or binding ability of a cancer seed by 250%.  Can you do anything before surgery to counter this risk?  Citrus pectin is a dietary fiber that is not absorbed in your intestine.  Modified citrus pectin (MCP) has been altered so that it is absorbed in your intestine and gain access to your blood stream.  MCP inhibits the cancer seeds from adhering to the blood vessel wall by binding with the Velcro tabs on the outside of the cancer seed and rendering it incapable of attaching itself to anything.  Several studies have shown remarkable results with MCP treatments.  Before surgery activates a new explosion of cancer seeds and activates their adhesion processes, it makes good sense to consider MCP treatments prior to surgery.

Are there any other options to reduce or inhibit the cancer seed’s adhesion ability?  Yes, there is an over-the-counter option called cimetidine (Tagamet).  Cimetidine has been used historically to relieve heartburn.  However, Cimetidine has also shown to have potent anti-adhesion properties.  Cimetidine blocks another adhesion process called E-selectin.  E-selectin is produced on the inner layer of your blood vessel and acts also as Velcro on the inner surface of the blood vessel for the wandering cancer seed to attach itself.    Cimetidine has been combined with chemotherapy and shown astounding survival results after ten years – 90% of the survivors used the chemo plus cimetidine, while only 49.8% used chemo only.  With more aggressive cancers, the results were even more amazing.  Another study showed that cimetidine given seven days before surgery increased survival from just under 60% to over 90% after three years.  A combination regimen of MCP and cimetidine given a a week prior to surgery and up to a year after surgery is suggested to reduce the risk of metastasis.

There are additional options you have and I’ll discuss that in a future blog.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

I read articles daily about health, wealth and prosperity.  The books I read books are primarily about various aspects of prosperity; however, on occasion, I find something I want to read about some aspect of health, nutrition, fitness, supplements or alternative medicine.  I consider my best source of health information to be the Life Extension magazine, a monthly publication.  I was somewhat surprised to find a very interesting article in the March 15, 2010 Forbes magazine.  There is an article on page 18, Terrorist Cells – Larry Norton is pushing a radical new theory of how cancer spreads – and how to cure it, by Robert Langreth.

Larry Norton is applying mathematics to the spread of cancer – using differential equations to describe the rate that tumors grow.  His approach came from frequent observations that a large tumor would shrink rapidly during chemo treatment, and would grow again rapidly in multiple locations.  In December’s issue of Life Extension, there is a great article on metastasis and what you can do to slow down or prevent cancer cells from metastasizing.  I’ll write a blog on that article shortly.  In the most recent issue of Life Extension, there are two articles discussing circulating tumor cells and what a new technology has learned about traditional cancer treatments.  I’ll also write a blog about those two articles shortly.

Getting back to Larry Norton and his quest to apply mathematics to curing cancer, he discovered that changing the frequency of chemo treatments can be extremely valuable in boosting the effectiveness of the chemo therapy.  The traditional belief is that the tumor cell grows from the inside out.  Sloan-Kettering biologist Joan Massague is postulating that tumors grow like weeds – they constantly produce seeds that enter your blood stream and get deposited in other places in your body; or, they return to the mother ship and give the primary tumor more momentum to grow again.  The original tumor started in a particular place for a reason – the returning cancer seeds can re-germinate in the original tumor location, even after that primary tumor has been removed – that explains why tumors come back in the same place that they were removed.  He also states that we will most likely see a new family of drugs specifically designed to attack the circulating cancer cells.

Larry Norton was a Fellow at the National Cancer Institute in the 70’s and has been trying to describe the mathematics behind typical and atypical cancer growth.  In some patients the predictions were very accurate – in others, they were way off base.  Based on those unusual growth spurts, Norton hypothesized a new theory based on the 19th century mathematician, Benjamin Gompertz.  This new theory states that the growth of some cancer cells is based on an S-shaped curve.  Small, almost undetectable cancer cells grow very slowly, or almost not at all.  As they get just a little bigger, they begin a new life – they grow at the expected exponential rate until they achieve an optimum size.  At this point in time they slow down again in their growth phase.  Based on this model, the faster you shrink a tumor with chemo, the faster the potential for it to grow back, since the size of the cancer cell dictates the growth rate.  If you didn’t kill the primary tumor quickly enough, it can recover and regenerate.

Norton speculated that if the same overall amount of chemo was given over shorter periods of time, the likelihood of effectiveness would increase.  He has had lots of difficulty with the established cancer treatment community in believing this or wanting to test it.  It took Norton decades to perfect his theory and finally in 2002, the government undertook a study to test the frequency of chemo versus the results.  The outcome proved his theory – giving chemo every two weeks instead of every three weeks made the chemo more effective.  The two-week group post treatment showed a 26% reduction in cancer recurrence after three years compared to the standard three-week chemo group.  Today, the two-week dosage has become standard with certain high-risk cancer patients.

Norton pressed on with his research and found some interesting facts – the cancer cells, or seeds, that travel through the blood stream are traditionally thought to be fast dividing and replicating cells.  His research has discovered that the metastasizing cells are actually normal cancer cells that had adapted to new environments.  This disproves to an extent that fast growing tumors are most likely to spread.  Additionally, his seeding theory has been supported to a degree with the growth rates of different sized tumors.  Large tumors may be restricted in their ability to grow at the same rate as smaller tumors because of their surface area.  The cancer seeds released may be part of the growth cycle to help the large tumor continue growing by providing additional growth sites on the primary tumor.  Growth of a tumor seems to be based more of surface area than volume.  It may be that tumors that release a lot of cancer seeds may be more virulent killers because of this mechanism compared to the previously their thought faster growth rate.

Standby for additional updates on this general theme in the next few blogs.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin