Category Archives: Cancer Research

Cancer Research, Cancer Survivors

Search for Genetic Links to Cancer Survival Could Lead to New Treatments

Cancer Advancements at the Genetic Level
Cancer Advancements at the Genetic Level

Researchers are taking a new look at why certain cancer patients survive usually fatal cancers by focusing on the genetic makeup of their cancer tumors. By studying these “miracle” survivors, researchers hope to discover how their bodies were able to target and kill cancer cells when others could not and apply that knowledge to the development of advanced targeted cancer therapies that could potentially increase the number of cancer survivors. Researchers believe that the key to cancer survival may lay hidden within the complex genetic composition of the cancer tumors themselves.

Spearheaded by the National Cancer Institute, Reuters reports that cancer researchers across the country have launched “super responder” initiatives designed to examine the role gene mutations play in the effectiveness of different drug protocols and cancer treatments. The study grew from a drug trial for patients with advanced bladder cancer conducted by Dr. David Solit, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Solit wondered why one patient not only lived while others died but has remained cancer-free for three years. He discovered that a rare combination of two genetic mutations within her cancer tumor made the patient more receptive to the drug treatment. Solit has since created an outlier clinic to study such exceptional responses in other cancer patients.

The sequencing of the human genome has opened new avenues of cancer research and spurred the development of targeted cell therapies using both drugs and cancer vaccines. As the cost of gene sequencing continues to decrease, cancer treatment is expected to shift increasingly toward individualized treatment programs based on the patient’s unique genetic profile.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

How Autohemotherapy Bolsters Immune Response

Tube containing a blood sample
Autohemotherapy may boost immune response.

Autohemotherapy is a self-blood therapy that can be used in cancer treatment to help boost the body’s immune system response. Autohemotherapy is one of a number of beneficial cancer therapies that Issels cancer treatment teams may integrate into a patient’s comprehensive immunobiologic core treatment program.

Described in Mainstream Medicine Since 1913

First described by French physician Paul Ravaut in 1913, autohemotherapy is not an “alternative therapy,” but a mainstream medical “serum therapy” that has been used to treat a wide range of chronic disease conditions. Hundreds of articles on its use can be found in mainstream medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Used in Europe and South America

More commonly used in Europe and South America than in the United States, autohemotherapy involves the withdrawal of a small amount of the patient’s blood and its reinjection; usually back into the vein or into a muscle. When disease, including cancer, attacks the body, the body fights back; producing antigens and other metabolic by-products that are present in the patient’s blood.

Triggering Immune Response

By removing and then reintroducing cancer by-products back into the patient’s body, the goal of autohemotherapy is to stimulate a fresh immune system response. To enhance the immunobiologic effect of autohemotherapy, sometimes the removed blood is mixed with a homeopathic remedy or ozone before it is injected into the patient.

Many Issels patients have benefited from the inclusion of autohemotherapy in their integrative immunotherapy program (see Issels treatment reviews). However, as is true in all cancer therapies, treatment response varies with each patient. Talk to your Issels cancer treatment team about the value of including autohemotherapy in your cancer treatment program.

Cancer Care Tips, Cancer Research

Cytokines: Fighting Cancer at the Cellular Level

mid section view of a man sitting on a bench in a park --- Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis
Obesity can interfere with normal cytokine function.

Cytokines are protein molecules that help cells communicate with each other and have the power to enhance or suppress the body’s immune system. When infected or damaged cells are detected, cytokines work together to attack harmful and cancerous cells. But cytokines can also call in reinforcements, signaling other immune system cells to join the attack.

Unfortunately for the third of American adults who are obese, obesity can interfere with normal cytokine function. When obesity causes interruptions to the vital cellular communication process performed by cytokines, malfunctions in the body’s immune system can occur that can lead to cancer, as CBS News recently noted in a report on the connections between obesity and cancer.

Cytokines function as the immune system’s communication network. When that network is disrupted, the body’s cells are not longer able to communicate with each other to coordinate their attack on rogue cells. Without impediments, cancer cells can multiply and migrate without restriction. Issels Integrative Oncology’s program of integrative immune therapy restores and supports the health of your body’s cytokines — and thus your immune system — through alternative cancer therapies and cancer vaccines.

Cytokines fight or control cancer in a number of ways.  They can interrupt pathways that contribute to uncontrolled growth of cancer  cells and prevent cancer from metastasizing and spreading to other parts of the body. By binding to cancer cells, cytokines identify rogue cells and attract other immune system cells to attack them. In addition to augmenting the killing action of immune cells, cytokines aid in the repair of cells damaged by radiation or chemotherapy.

Find out more about cytokines and cancer on our website.

Cancer Care Tips, Cancer Research

How Does Obesity Increase Cancer Risk?

Young Couple Walking Dog
Daily walk could decrease your risk of cancer.

It seems absurd that something as innocuous as taking a daily walk could decrease your risk of cancer, as well as a host of chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. But, as we noted in our previous post, researchers are finding that regular exercise could be the “magic pill” that saves us from a host of ills, including cancer. Exercise promotes a healthy immune system, improving your body’s ability to fight off cancer; but it is the link between exercise and obesity reductions that intrigues cancer researchers.

Affecting the health of more than a third of American adults, obesity adversely affects the body in several ways that can weaken its ability to fight off cancer and disease:

  • Obesity can change the way your body absorbs and uses energy from the food you eat, resulting in metabolic dysfunction.
  • Obesity can interfere with the process of cytokines, disrupting cell communication which can increase inflammation.
  • Obesity can also impact the body’s endocrine system, affecting production of certain hormones that can fuel cancer tumor growth.

As little as 30 to 60 minutes of brisk walking or other moderate-intensity exercise a day can be enough to promote weight loss, help maintain a healthy body weight, protect you from the deleterious effects of obesity and reduce your cancer risk. (Tip: at moderate intensity you should be able to talk but not sing.) If you don’t have the time or stamina for a 30-minute workout, experts say you can derive the same obesity-fighting, cancer-prevention benefits from several 10-minute workouts. Cumulative exercise time and exercise intensity are what matter.

Next time: Cytokines and cancer

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research

Unexpected Cancer Tumor Complexity Requires New Treatment Protocols

DNA
Cancer tumors are considerably more genetically complex than thought.

Unlocking the body’s genetic code has led to myriad discoveries that are transforming medicine. One unexpected discovery is that cancer tumors are considerably more genetically complex that previously believed, causing researchers to rethink current traditional methods of treating cancer.

“Until recently, it was assumed cancer cells were more or less identical clones of each other. We have found this is not true. Cells, taken from a single tumor from one person, can have many different genetic alterations within them,” Chris Jones of the Institute of Cancer Research in London told The Guardian.

Mapping of the human genome opened the door to targeted cell therapy. Of the body’s 23,000 genes, scientists found 150 genes with mutations that could trigger cells to create cancerous tumors. Scientists found that the various triggering mechanisms could be targeted and tumor growth slowed or halted using new cancer drugs that redefined chemotherapy. Now instead of a blanket approach that killed healthy cells along with the cancerous ones, specific drugs could be used to target cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

Initially, patient response to these new targeted drug treatments was impressive. However, in many cases cancer returned 6 months after treatment; but this time tumors were drug-resistant. What scientists discovered surprised them. When drugs blocked one path to tumor development, cancer cells demonstrated their genetic complexity by finding a new path.

The problem may be that traditional chemotherapy, even when targeted, is a destructive force designed to tear down the body. Issels personalized integrated immunotherapy, on the other hand, uses targeted cell therapies designed to build up the body’s immune system, strengthening its ability to fight cancer.

To be continued

Cancer Research, Stress Management

Stress Gene Linked to Spread of Cancer

Man squeezing stress ball.
Stress genes may lead to cancer.

Stress can be a killer. Considered a contributing factor to many chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, a new study reported on eScienceNews.com has discovered a direct causal link between stress and the ability of cancer cells to metastasize and kill.

Researchers at The Ohio State University have linked the activation of the stress gene ATF3, a component of the body’s immune system, to the spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body. Researchers believe the stress gene may also trigger metastasis in other types of cancer and could be a major cause of cancer fatalities.

The study emphasizes the critical link between cancer and the body’s immune system.

“If your body does not help cancer cells, they cannot spread as far. So really, the rest of the cells in the body help cancer cells to move, to set up shop at distant sites. And one of the unifying themes here is stress,” explained Tsonwin Hai, OSU professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry and the study’s senior author.

A normal stress response that occurs in cells of all types, activation of ATF3 triggers cell death, a therapeutic immune system response used to eliminate irrevocably damaged cells. However, the new study indicates that cancer cells are somehow able to co-opt ATF3, throwing the body’s normal immune system response into chaos which allows cancer cells to escape the tumor area and spread.

When cancer attacks, Issels integrated immunotherapy brings the immune system back into balance so it can more effectively protect the body against cancer stressors and prevent the activation of cancer triggers.