Trying to outsmart cancer

Cancer is a cunning, shrewd, and highly adaptable disease. It has been outsmarting physicians for an awfully long time. Despite advances in chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, survival rates are still too low. While these treatment methods can prolong life, they do not fundamentally treat the underlying mechanisms of cancer. Of the nearly 2 million people newly diagnosed with cancer last year, over 600,000 of them have already died. With conventional treatment, significant challenges must be overcome, including debilitating side effects, multi-drug resistance, metastasis, and inevitable recurrence of cancer.

The reality is, for many cancers, conventional therapy alone is not enough. The need for new treatment approaches with fewer side effects is urgently needed. For over 30 years, I have been helping people all over the world by providing innovative solutions to reverse disease, improve mental and physical vigor, and increase lifespan. My expertise is in the practical application of biomedical research. I spend 20-30 hours a week outside of the office poring over the latest scientific literature in search of promising therapeutic strategies to help my cancer patients overcome their disease. I describe some of these innovative strategies below.

Targeting cancer’s addiction to methionine:

In 1974, a landmark paper was published showing for the first time that cancer possesses what is called an “absolute methionine dependency,” meaning that if we try to grow cells in a Petri dish without giving them the amino acid methionine, normal cells thrive, but without methionine, cancer cells die.¹⁴ Methionine and iron dependence are the only known general metabolic defects in cancer. Normal cells grow with or without methionine, but cancer cells must have methionine to grow.¹⁵ It turns out that cancer stem cells also need methionine and die without it.²³ Methionine deprivation interferes with cancer epigenetics, nucleotide and protective antioxidant synthesis, membrane lipid homeostasis, and multiple signaling pathways that are methionine-dependent transmethylation events.¹⁷

Thirty-seven years later, a study showed that a diet low in methionine can be helpful in the fight against cancer.⁷ That is why I put all my patients on a plant-based (vegan) diet because plant protein contains less methionine than animal protein. The question is, can we lower methionine levels in the body enough by dietary means alone to eradicate advanced-stage cancer? The answer is no, but it’s an important start.

I am working with a world-renowned scientist who is a leading authority on methionine’s central role in human malignancies. My close working relationship with this scientist allows me to have access to patented methioninase created by recombinant-DNA technology in his laboratory. Methioninase is an oral digestive enzyme that breaks down methionine in the gut before it can be absorbed from our food. Methioninase makes it possible to lower methionine levels in the body far beyond what is possible with diet alone. With methioninase, we can now create a “Petri-dish-like effect” within our body that begins to mimic the conditions in the 1974 landmark study. Also, because methionine-deprived cancer cells arrest at the S/G2 cell cycle phase, ciprofloxacin can be used to kill cancer cells stuck in S/G2.²

Oxidizing cancer cells to death:

A common characteristic of tumors is an elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the hypoxic environment created by rapidly proliferating tumor cells facilitates further ROS production. Cancer cells demonstrate greater oxidative stress than normal cells due to malignant stimulation, increased metabolic activity, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Since this state of oxidative stress makes cancer cells vulnerable to agents that further increase ROS levels, the use of pro-oxidant agents is an attractive strategy to selectively target tumor cells.

Most conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, kill cancer cells by inducing severe oxidative stress by increasing their production of excessive ROS. Immune cells also utilize excessive ROS to kill cancer cells.¹¹ In cancer cells, the amount of ROS is significantly higher than that of normal cells because the exaggerated metabolism and rapid proliferation of cancer cells require more adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to be produced by the mitochondria. A robust antioxidant system in cancer cells is maintained to ensure that the amount of ROS produced does not exceed the threshold that the cancer cells can tolerate. This allows cancer to survive in a harsh environment, resist the oxidative effects of treatment, and evade immune attack.

The way to push cancer cells beyond their oxidative threshold and induce apoptosis (cell death) is to sensitize them to oxidative stress, disable their antioxidant defense systems, and induce further oxidative stress. By depleting cancer cells of their stores of glutathione and thioredoxin reductase—cancer’s two main antioxidants that neutralize oxidative stress and prevent irreversible cellular oxidative damage—we exceed the capacity of its protective antioxidant defense systems and push the oxidative insult to the point where it results in apoptosis. The cellular debris left behind can promote more cancer if not disposed of. Resolvins are a family of compounds in the body that enhance the immune system’s ability to clear away debris from dead cancer cells.

By using the supplements and medications below, we kill cancer cells (and cancer stem cells) decreasing intratumoral hypoxia, sensitizing tumors to oxidative stress, dually inhibiting the glutathione and thioredoxin systems, inducing cytotoxic levels of oxidative stress, and promoting the removal of tumor debris by increasing the level of resolvins:

• Decrease intratumoral hypoxia: Transcutaneous carbon dioxide⁴²
• Sensitize cancer cells to oxidative stress: 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG)³⁸ + propranolol⁶
• Disable cancer’s antioxidant defense systems: Piperlongumine⁴⁶
• Induce oxidative stress: Bromelain⁹ + molecular iodine³¹ + pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)²⁹ + sodium selenite¹⁹ + tocotrienols⁴⁴
• Promote removal of tumor debris by increasing resolvins: Aspirin¹³ + pro-resolving mediators⁴⁹

Advanced intravenous therapy with radiofrequency hyperthermia:

We know from published research that a high concentration of curcumin (turmeric extract) is effective at killing cancer cells without harming normal cells.⁴¹ In addition, a 5-micromolar concentration of curcumin has been found to reduce the amount of cisplatin (chemotherapy drug) needed to kill various types of cancer cells by a remarkable 300-fold.²⁸ Furthermore, when curcumin and cisplatin are administered as intravenous cyclodextrin-based nanoparticles, the efficacy of curcumin and cisplatin is improved by increasing their solubility, circulation time, and penetration into tumors.³⁶

We administer a potent and synergistic combination of intravenous curcumin, quercetin, resveratrol, and low-dose cisplatin cyclodextrin nanoparticles, together with oral celecoxib, dichloroacetate, and Ganoderma lucidum (reishi mushroom), intravenous ozonated saline, and radiofrequency hyperthermia:

• Curcumin sensitizes cancer cells to dichloroacetate.¹⁸ and cisplatin.⁵
• Quercetin amplifies the anticancer effects of curcumin,⁴⁰ resveratrol,³⁹ celecoxib,¹² cisplatin,¹² and hyperthermia.³
• Resveratrol amplifies the anticancer effects of celecoxib²⁰ and cisplatin.²⁷
• Resveratrol and curcumin complement each other’s anticancer effects.³⁴
• Celecoxib sensitizes cancer cells to the effects of curcumin,²⁴ cisplatin,^26,37,47 dichloroacetate,²⁵ and hyperthermia.⁴
• Dichloroacetate sensitizes cancer cells to the effects of cisplatin,^33,43 resveratrol,^35,43 and hyperthermia.³²
• Ganoderma lucidum sensitizes cancer cells to the effects of cisplatin.⁵⁰
• Intravenous ozonated saline increases tumor blood flow resulting in improved drug delivery and tumor oxygenation resulting in increased sensitivity to cisplatin.²²
• By raising the internal tumor temperature to 41-42°C (105.8-107.6°F) for 30-60 minutes, we change the characteristics of the cancer cells¹ and sensitize them to the effects of curcumin,²¹ resveratrol,²¹ and cisplatin.¹⁰ We also increase tumor blood flow¹ to deliver more curcumin, quercetin, resveratrol, celecoxib, cisplatin, dichloroacetate, and Ganoderma lucidum into tumors.
• Hyperthermia triggers a tumor-specific and systemic immune response by improving immune recognition of cancer cells through the release of heat-shock proteins (HSPs) and tumor-specific antigens; and increasing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and Natural Killer (NK) cells.^16,45,48 The latter is enhanced with the use of Ganoderma lucidum.^8,30

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