Category Archives: Cancer Research

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Living with Cancer

Nutrition and Cancer Treatment – The Connection

Proper Nutrition
Proper Nutrition

Among the many issues cancer patients must deal with on a daily basis, proper nutrition is at the top of the priority list. Whether patients are in the initial stages of cancer, advanced stages, or in remission, maintaining a balanced diet is important for many reasons including avoiding malnutrition.

Benefits of Nutrition Therapy

According to the National Cancer Institute, the list below explains the importance of proper nutrition.

  • A balanced diet helps deter or eliminate nutrient deficiencies in patients that can help in the healing and/or recovery process
  • Helps patients maintain energy levels and body strength
  • A proper diet helps maintain a leaner body mass and supports the immune system
  • Patients maintaining nutritional balance have a stronger body composition when undergoing treatments
  • A stronger body due to nutrition management stands a better chance of less infections
  • Overall, good nutrition in cancer patients and recovering patients enhances the their quality of life

Advanced Stage

Patients in the advanced stages of cancer may not be able to achieve weight gain but proper nutrition helps in other ways.

  • Good nutrition helps in reducing the risk of infection
  • Side effects from treatments may be reduced
  • Patients experiencing weakness may see an improvement
  • With reduced side effects through proper nutrition, patients may have an increased comfort level

Remission

Lessening the chances of a recurrence of the disease for those in remission or who have been cured is supported by maintaining the right diet. Proper nutrition may also help individuals avoid other illnesses including hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

If you have questions for yourself or for a loved one about nutrition and cancer treatment, contact Issels® Integrative Oncology Centers.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, News

Some Birth Control Pills May Increase Breast Cancer Risk

Birth Control Pills
Birth Control Pills

A new study has linked certain types of birth control pills to a higher near-term risk of breast cancer, but the finding is unlikely to affect the majority of young American women.

“The study found no relationship between an increased cancer risk and the use of low-dose estrogen pills, which are currently the most commonly prescribed type of birth control pills in the U.S.,” according to a CBS News report.

High Risk Pills

The birth control pills implicated in the study are those containing moderate to high doses of estrogen. While birth control pills containing a moderate estrogen dose elevated breast cancer risk only slightly, high-estrogen medications nearly tripled breast cancer risk.

The two greatest offenders were triphasic combination pills containing norethindrone and birth control pills containing ethynodiol diacetate. If your birth control pills contain either of these ingredients, Issels Cancer Treatment Center staff urges you to talk to your doctor.

No Need to Panic

“Breast cancer is rare among young women, and there are numerous established health benefits associated with oral contraceptive use that must be considered,” study author Elisabeth Beaber of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center told CBS News.

She recommended that women exercise caution in interpreting the study’s results, which are yet to be confirmed, and discuss their breast cancer risk with their physician. As CBS notes, some other studies have shown no appreciable link between birth control pills and increased breast cancer risk. Previous studies have shown that breast cancer risk declines when women discontinue birth control pills.

Like cancer risk, breast cancer treatment must be personalized to the unique needs of each individual. Visit our website for more information.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, News

Scientists Discover Gene ‘Anchor’ Linked to Spread of Lung Cancer

The Lung Cancer Gene
The Lung Cancer Gene

One of the world’s deadliest cancers, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Its ability to metastasize and quickly spread to other organs in the body is what makes lung cancer so deadly. A new genetic discovery by scientists at the Salk Institute in California may help researchers devise a way to keep lung cancer from spreading and dramatically improve the long-term outcome of this deadly form of cancer.

Cancer Cells on the Move

As described in Medical News Today, Salk researchers have discovered a gene that helps lung cancer cells “pull up their anchors in the primary tumor,” making it possible for them to move to other parts of the body to form new tumors; a process called metastasis. Normal cells have a natural adhesion that acts like an anchor, keeping the cells firmly rooted in their proper place.

Genes Linked to Cell Adhesion

Scientists already knew that cancerous cells were able to overcome this natural adhesion and travel through the bloodstream to other organs. Previous studies had even shown that some cancer cells were able to manipulate cell anchors. But the Salk Institute research is the first to link communication between specific genes to cancer cell adhesion and explain how cancer cells are able to “up anchor.” When that communication breaks down, cancer cells are set free and start traveling.

In lab and animal experiments, Salk researchers were able to re-establish communication between anchoring genes and slow metastasis. Researchers are hopeful that further research will lead to a way to stop lung cancer from spreading.

Visit our website to find out more about Issels  targeted cancer therapies.

Cancer Research, Cancer Survivors

Diagnostic Blood Test Could Speed Cancer Treatment

Cancer Research
Cancer Research

“Promising” is the word British scientists are using to describe early results of a simple blood test that could revolutionize cancer diagnosis and speed cancer treatment. Developed by researchers at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, the Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity (LGS) test may turn out to be the easy to administer, inexpensive and accurate diagnostic tool the cancer treatment community has been searching for.

How It Works

Named for the type of white blood cell it examines, the Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity test searches for cancer-related DNA damage in cells that have been bombarded with varying degrees of ultraviolet light.

“White blood cells are part of the body’s natural defense system,” study leader Professor Diana Anderson explains on the University’s website. “We know that they are under stress when they are fighting cancer or other diseases, so I wondered whether anything measurable could be seen if we put them under further stress with UVA light. We found that people with cancer have DNA which is more easily damaged by ultraviolet light than other people.”

What It Means

The ability to diagnose cancer with a blood test that measures immune system response would decrease the need for more costly and invasive tests and biopsies. In early testing, UV damage to white blood cell DNA was able to accurately differentiate between healthy, pre-cancerous and cancerous cells. DNA damage to white blood cells became measurably more pronounced as cancer developed and advanced.

The test underscores the connection between the immune system and cancer development. By strengthening the body’s immune system, Issels integrative immunotherapy has helped many of our patients achieve complete long-term remission of advanced and therapy-resistant cancers.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Mammograms and Breast Cancer – The Problem with Dense Tissue

Mammograms
Mammograms

If you’ve recently had a mammogram, you may have discovered that you have dense breast tissue. What does it mean? How does it affect your results and prognosis for breast cancer?

The definition of dense tissue
Fibrous and fatty tissue give breast their size and shape, holding in place glandular tissue, home of the lobules which produce milk. For reasons not yet known, those with dense breast tissue simply have more fibrous connective tissue or glandular tissue than fatty tissue. It is common for breast density to increase with age, and dense tissue is not abnormal.

Breast density and the cancer risk
Women with high breast density are 4-5 times more likely to get breast cancer than those with low breast density, however lowering the density of the tissue has not been shown to decrease this risk. As a result, at this time breast density is not considered a factor in assessing a woman’s cancer risk.

How breast density effects mammograms
Mammograms are more difficult to interpret on patients with high breast density than those with low. Fatty tissue is more translucent allowing for greater visibility, however dense fibrous and glandular tissue appears white on x-rays, clouding results.  For a better interpretation, your provider may suggest other types of breast imaging to obtain a more accurate diagnosis such as digital mammography, ultrasound, or MRI. Unfortunately there are no special recommendations or screening guidelines for women with dense breasts at this time.

Did you find out you have breast cancer from your mammogram results? Issels can help. Learn more about Issels integrative immunotherapy options for treating your breast cancer today.

 

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Nanotech Methods May Be the Future of Cancer Treatment

Cancer Bomb
Cancer Bomb

At Rice University they are blowing up cancer cells with nanoparticle “bombs.” Like integrative immunotherapy, the new cancer-fighting technique kills cancer cells without harming surrounding healthy cells. Experimental trials have been so successful destroying aggressive and resistant cancer cells, particularly in the head and neck areas, that human trials are expected to begin in the near future.

Cancer Bombs

Rice cellular biologist Dmitri Lapolko who developed the new treatment calls it quadrapeutics for the four techniques – nanoparticles, laser, drugs and radiation — used in this revolutionary new cancer treatment. Here’s how it works (Click here to watch a video.):

1. Colloidal gold nanoparticles filled with a small dose of chemotherapy drugs are injected into the body at the tumor site.

2. The nanoparticles are detonated with a near-infrared laser. The gold magnifies the laser’s effect which allows the use of very small doses of radiation.

3. As the laser hits the nanoparticles, they burst. The energy expansion creates a momentary bubble that blows up and destroys surrounding cancer cells, much like the shock wave from a bomb.

4. Chemotherapy drugs released when the nanoparticles explode deliver a second deadly payload to any remaining cancer cells in the area. With their cell walls already damaged by the nanoparticle explosion, remaining cells are quickly penetrated by the chemo drugs which are able to directly attack the cytoplasm at the cells’ heart, destroying them.

Cell Therapy

If human trials are successful, Lapolko believes quadrapeutics could be valuable in addressing complex tumors intertwined with critical organs. Increasingly the fight against cancer is being conducted on the cellular battlefield. Visit our website for information about cell therapy in cancer treatments.