Everyone knows that exercise is required to maintain a healthy body, but few people are aware of the extensive research demonstrating a specific preventative link between exercise, cancer, and other illnesses. There is no doubt that regular exercise gives you more energy, makes you feel better, lowers your stress levels, and helps prevent ill health. The physiological effects of regular exercise are multiple.
BBC News Report – “Exercise ‘halves cancer risk’.”
University of Minnesota Cancer Center – “Cancer Risk Reduction: Exercise and Cancer.”
American Cancer Society – Some excellent suggestions on staying active, fitting in fitness, and making exercise work for you.
American Cancer Society – “Exercise to Stay Active: Find out how much activity is healthy during treatment and create an exercise program that’s right for you.”
About.com – “Exercise as a cancer treatment.”
Mercola.com – A useful article relating exercise to specific forms of cancer on Dr Joseph Mercola’s nutritional supplement shop and health information site.
Charity Wire – Reports on “a survey commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) revealing that a high percentage of Americans are unaware that regular exercise can reduce the risk of cancer. In contrast, the great majority know that eating vegetables and fruit can contribute to the body’s defense against the disease.”
Cancer Vaccines & Dendritic Cell Vaccines
The possibility of creating cancer vaccines has arisen from observations that even advanced cancers are sometimes reduced or even completely disappear when the patient suffers a viral or bacterial infection. It is presumed that when the infection stimulates the patient’s immune system, cancer also gets zapped. Cancer vaccines (containing tumor cells or antigens) seek to stimulate the patient’s immune system into producing T-cell lymphocytes, which destroy cancer cells and prevent relapses of cancer. Unlike other vaccines, cancer vaccines cannot be used preventatively, but only to attack existing cancers. Vaccines are prepared in a number of ways, sometimes from breakdown products of cancer cells found in the patient’s urine.
“Dendritic cells are professional antigen-capturing and -presenting cells of the immune system. Because of their exceptional capability of activating tumor-specific T-cells, cancer vaccination research is now shifting toward the formulation of a clinical human dendritic cell vaccine.” (Peter Ponsaerts et. al)
HowStuffWorks – “How Cancer Vaccines will Work.” A short and clear overview.
MedIndia – “Provenge – Dendritic cell vaccine for Prostate Cancer.” A short news article.
Dove Clinic – “Dendritic Cell Therapy Vaccines: A Promising New Approach to the Treatment of Cancer.” A readable technical overview by Dr Julian Kenyon.
Dove Clinic – An observation study by Dr Julian Kenyon of 32 consecutive cancer patients who were given a dendritic cell vaccine.
Dove Clinic – Home page of Dr Julian Kenyon’s UK integrated medicine clinic in Winchester and London, where dendritic cell vaccines are used, together with other therapies and diagnostic tools.
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)
Photodynamic therapy, also called photochemotherapy, phototherapy, or photoradiation therapy, is based on the discovery that cells or organisms treated with a photosensitizing agent can then be destroyed by means of light. PDT involves the use of a photosensitizing drug, which is either applied to the skin or injected intravenously. After two or three days, when the drug has been absorbed throughout the body, though more selectively in cancer cells, low-level, fixed-frequency laser light is focused on the tumor, causing the drug to react with oxygen. This forms free radicals or other substances which kill the cancer cells or destroys the blood vessels that feed the cancer cells. PDT may also trigger the immune system to attack the cancer cells. The actual laser treatment can take between 5 to 40 minutes, depending on the area being treated.
Since PDT is only useful for treating tumors or pre-cancerous tissues where laser light can reach, it is not always practical. This usually restricts PDT to areas on or lying no more than half an inch beneath the skin, or in the accessible lining of internal organs, especially the larynx, esophagus, lungs, stomach, colon, rectum, and bladder. Treatment of prostate, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers is still in the experimental stage. Large tumors are more difficult to treat with PDT because the light does not penetrate deeply enough.
In cases where PDT can be used, studies have shown it to be as effective as surgery or radiation therapy. The advantages are that the patient does not have to undergo surgery; cancer can be very precisely targeted; the treatment can be repeated on the same site (unlike radiation), and the patient can generally be treated as an outpatient. The major drawback with some PDT drugs is that because they spread throughout the body, the skin and eyes become very sensitive to bright light for up to six weeks, even up to 90 days, requiring special precautions. PDT can also cause burns, swellings, or pain in nearby tissue. Depending on the area treated, PDT can also result in coughing, swallowing difficulty, stomach pain, painful breathing, and shortness of breath.
A small number of photosensitizing agents are used, notably Photofrin and Levulan Kerastick. Other more advanced agents include Photoflora, a chlorophyll extract that is taken orally, accumulates selectively in tumors, does not persist in the skin, and lasts only 24 to 48 hours in the body, resulting in minimal post-therapy photosensitivity. Systemic Light Therapy, a variant of PDT, uses the experimental Russian photosensitizing agent and chlorophyll derivative, Radachlorin. This too persists in the body for a few days only.
Current advances in PDT are exploring the use of photosensitizing agents that are more selectively absorbed by and collected more rapidly in cancer cells and can be removed more quickly from the body. Other research is focusing on the use of fiber optics to deliver laser beams to tumors deep inside the body.
Abramson Cancer Center (University of Pennsylvania) – A brief overview. A more detailed overview can be found on their Oncolink site.
Cancer Backup – An excellent overview of all aspects of PDT.
National Cancer Institute – A reasonably detailed overview.
American Cancer Society – An overview of the future of PDT.
DermNet NZ – An overview, also listing a number of potential photosensitizing agents.
Dove Clinic – “Next Generation PDT.” An excellent, cutting-edge article from UK cancer specialist, Dr Julian Kenyon, who uses an advanced chlorophyll extract in his PDT.
Fountain of Life – Dr Michael Tait’s cancer clinic in Queensland, Australia, offers PDT, which uses a chlorophyll extract photosensitizer similar to Radachlorin.
Annie Appleseed Project – A Dutch patient reports his experiences with Systemic Light Therapy, using Radachlorin.
RadaPharma – The manufacturer of Radachlorin, also called Photolife.
Oregon Medical Laser Center – Information regarding PDT for lung cancer patients, from a cancer treatment center in Oregon.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute – A US cancer treatment center in Buffalo, New York, offering PDT.
Thompson Cancer Survival Center – A centre offering PDT at clinics in Knoxville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
Dr Fuad Lechin’s Method of Neuroimmunomodulation
Dr Fuad Lechin (b. 1928) is an eminent and internationally respected Venezuelan professor and Nobel prize nominee, head of the departments of neuropharmacology, neurochemistry, and stress, at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. His main field of research has been that of the neuroendocrine and bodily immune systems. His laboratory has profiled the neurochemistry and immunological status of over 25,000 normal and diseased people.
Dr Lechin’s approach to treating cancer is first to profile the immunological responsivity of a person’s main neurotransmitters (chiefly noradrenaline, adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, and tryptophan), together with other immune systems and biological markers. These are assayed from blood serum, rather than urine samples. The therapy involves fine-tuning this profile towards that of a healthy person.
His system is non-toxic and can be integrated with other non-toxic treatments. Although he has lectured widely on his research, and oncologists have been very interested in his work, they have found it difficult to implement his methods. Hospitals generally want easily administered package treatments, like chemotherapy or radiotherapy, where there is very little variation between the treatment given to individual patients. To monitor and manipulate individual neurotransmitters requires considerable skill and experience, as well as access to appropriate neurochemical laboratory facilities. The absence of both the skilled experience, as well as the necessary facilities in most hospitals makes Dr Lechin’s system difficult to implement. Consequently, patients are currently treated at his center in Caracas, where around 3000 patients have so far been seen. He has published several clinical studies of his work, demonstrating either tumor remission, or a reduction, slowing, or complete halt to the progression of metastases. All patients in these studies have shown a significant increase in life expectancy.
Dr Lechin has also successfully applied the same therapeutic techniques to other illnesses, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, bipolar syndrome, myasthenia gravis, thrombocytopenic purpura, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and other conditions related to immunological dysfunction. It is likely that a detailed understanding of and the ability to fine-tune the body’s immune system will be of great significance in the treatment of many diseases in the decades ahead. Dr Lechin in the author of over 170 research papers and several books.
Dr Fuad Lechin – A resumé.
Healing Cancer – An extract from the book, Healing Cancer, concerning Dr Lechin’s approach to cancer treatment, including details of treatment cost, staying at his clinic in Caracas, and so on.
PubMed – Over 90 of Dr Lechin’s published papers can be accessed by searching for ‘Lechin F’.
Journal of Applied Research – Two case studies.
Dr Burzynski’s Antineoplastons
The story of Dr Stanislav Burzynski’s novel treatment for cancer is a confusing trail, further confounded by the fact that much of the information on the internet is out of date. Without going into the history, the current status seems to be that Dr Burzynski is using two anti-cancer drugs, designated antineoplastons Aminocare A10 and AS2-1, which seem to have a particular efficacy against brain cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Some studies and anecdotal evidence, however, suggest that they may be of use in combating other forms of cancer. Many of Dr Burzynski’s patients claim that their cancers have been cured or held in a stable condition as a result of his treatment.
Cancer is known as a ‘neoplasm’ (a new formation). Anti-cancer compounds can therefore be called ‘antineoplastons’. Dr Burzynski’s antineoplastons are peptides, small proteins or amino-acid chains, found in normal human blood. In cancer patients, however, antineoplaston levels tend to be low – as little as 2% of that of healthy individuals. In normally functioning tissues and organs, cells die and are replaced on a regular basis. Cancer cells, on the other hand, go on living and proliferating because the system that induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) is switched off. Antineoplastons work by ‘reprogramming’ cancer cells to die like normal cells, while healthy cells remain unaffected.
Antineoplastons function in two ways. They suppress the activity of the oncogenes that cause the endless proliferation of cancer cells, and at the same time stimulate the activity of the tumor-suppressor genes that instruct cells to die normally. Normal chemotherapy agents are designed to catch and kill cells during their division phase. In the process, they also kill vast numbers of normal cells, resulting in well-known side effects. Instead of killing cancer cells, antineoplastons reprogramme them to die in the normal manner.
Personalized treatment is available at Dr Burzynski’s clinic in Houston, Texas, and costs around $2000 a month. Though no substitute for his complete therapy, amino care products can also be purchased as nutritional supplements for independent use. Sales of amino care products help support the FDA-supervised clinical trials of Dr Burzynski’s treatment.
Interview with Dr Burzynski – May 2003. One of the best sources of reasonably up-to-date information.
Health Education Alliance for Life and Longevity – A brief overview of antineoplastons.
Wellness Directory of Minnesota – A brief history and overview, with a review of Aminocare products.
National Cancer Institute – Report on antineoplastons.
Burzynski Clinic – Dr Burzynski’s website.
Burzynski Research Institute – Details the research and FDA-supervised trial program.
Burzynski Patient Group – A support group, with many individual stories.
Aminocare Products – Dr Burzynski’s Aminocare sales site.
Our Alexander – One family’s story of a child with a brain tumor.
AnnieAppleSeed Project – Susan Zimmerman’s story of controlling breast cancer metastases.
PrimeZone – A report of Dr Burzynski’s theory of aging through the methylation of DNA.
Small Interface RNA Resources – “Aging: Gene Silencing or Gene Activation?” by S.R. Burzynski. A scientific presentation of his hypothesis.
Holt Radiowave Therapy
Based on research indicating that radiowaves can influence cell division, Dr John Holt, an Australian radiologist from Perth, introduced his first form of radio wave treatment for cancer during the 1970s. His final form of treatment, introduced in the late 1990s was based on his discovery that 434 MHz ultrahigh-frequency radiowaves stimulate cancer cells to divide more rapidly.
In order to divide and perform their various functions, all cells require energy. Usually, this is provided by the ‘burning’ of glucose. To do this, normal cells generally use oxygen, but for reasons that are not entirely understood, cancer cells burn glucose in the absence of oxygen (glycolysis).
If therefore, cancer cells are stimulated to divide more rapidly by exposure to 434 MHz radiowaves (hence requiring more glucose), and at the same time their glucose supply is blocked, they will be starved of their energy supply and will die. The blocking is achieved by the use of a ‘glycolytic blocking agent’ (GBA), which is injected into the patient immediately prior to and during exposure to 434 MHz radio waves. The more rapidly the cancer cells are trying to divide at the time of treatment, the more effective it is. According to Dr Holt, the GBA acts only on cancer cells, is not harmful, and is cleared from the body within 24 hours.
To give the patient the best chance of response, the treatment is repeated for about an hour a day over a three-week period. Like all cancer treatments, it is uncertain how well radio wave therapy will work in individual cases, or whether it will work at all. Not all cancers are suitable for radio wave therapy, and patients are screened before admission into treatment. Influencing factors include the type of cancer, its invasiveness and total size, the amount of previous chemotherapy, and the patient’s mobility and state of health. Since patients are required to eat red meat five times a week during treatment, it is also unsuitable for vegetarians. Radiowave therapy is different from microwave or hyperthermia (heat) treatment, where the intention is to heat the cancer cells until they die.
Dr Holt retired in 2005, at the age of 80. Although the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) produced a negative report concerning the efficacy of his treatment, the reality is that there is insufficient evidence, according to strict scientific protocols, to decide whether or not it is effective. It is for this reason that the Radiowave Therapy Research Institute has been founded – both to treat patients and to conduct clinical trials. Nevertheless, there are a significant number of patients who are now alive and well, free from cancer, after receiving treatment from Dr Holt. In the scientific and medical world, however, such anecdotal evidence is unacceptable as proof, because the full circumstances are unknown.
Dr Holt’s treatment and research is also being continued by Dr Hugh Tinsley and Victor Thorne, at the Rose Lodge Clinic, at Kilternan in Ireland, in conjunction with Dr Max Ammann and Dr James Murpy of the Dublin Institute of Technology. A modified form of Dr Holt’s therapy is practiced by ex-dentist, Noel Campbell, at the Australian Hope Clinic for Integrated Western, Alternate and Complementary Medicine.
Radiowave Therapy Research Institute – A privately funded institute in Perth, to whom Dr Holt is a scientific advisor, provides radio wave therapy and acts as a focal point for interested parties. Includes a brief history and overview of the treatment and research program, with costs, together with the aims of the institute.
Dr Holt Support – Free support group, presently offering a monthly newsletter.
Australian Hope Clinic for Integrated Western, Alternate and Complementary Medicine – An overview from a Melbourne clinic offering a modified form of Dr Hope’s radio wave therapy.
Dublin Institute of Technology – Report of a visit by Dr John Holt, to see and discuss their research. There is also the report of a visit by Tom Kitt (minister of state in the Department of the Taoiseach and government chief whip) and photos of Dr Tinsley’s clinic. This clinic can be contacted through the London cancer charity, Yes to Life.
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) – Media release, with a summary of the full report on Dr John Holt’s radiowave therapy.
Round Up – A pithy article from TV presenter Ray Martin (who is generally anti-alternatives), regarding the NHMRC report, also relates some of the anecdotal evidence in favor of Dr Holts therapy.
Above Top Secret News Network (ATSNN) – A collection of opinions regarding Dr Holt and the NHMRC report.
ACA Ninemsn – News reports concerning Dr Holt’s work.
Microwave and Optical Technology Letters – “Investigation of the Near-field Behaviour and SAR for the Resonant Loop Antenna Operating at 434 MHz for Medical Applications” (2005). A research paper from the Dublin group.
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