Moving Toward a More Unified Approach to Cancer Treatment

In pivotal research published in 2004 and again in 2023, many contemporary cancer drugs were found to have little impact on enhancing the quality of life or prolonging the lives of those with metastatic cancer (click here and here). Such cancer is often associated with reduced survival rates because alternative approaches are limited when cancer cells evolve and acquire multi-drug resistance. New treatment approaches are needed to substantially improve outcomes. Fortunately, research scientists and forward-thinking physicians have been hard at work looking for novel ways to fight cancer to help improve the chances for long-term remission. One promising way is to integrate repurposed medications and targeted supplements. The rationale for combined interventions for cancer treatment is multifaceted:

Increased efficacy: Combination therapies are often more effective than monotherapy. Using compounds that work through different mechanisms increases the likelihood of killing more cancer cells.
Overcoming drug resistance: Cancer cells can become resistant to a single drug over time. Using a combination of repurposed medications and targeted supplements can reduce the likelihood of this happening, as the cancer cells would need to simultaneously develop resistance to multiple drugs.
Addressing tumor heterogeneity: Tumors are often composed of different types of cells. A combination of drugs might more effectively target these different cell types.
Synergistic effects: Some drugs can enhance the effects of others, leading to a greater overall impact than if the drugs were used individually.
Targeting multiple pathways: Cancer cells often have alterations in multiple cellular pathways. Using a combination of compounds allows for the targeting of multiple pathways, which can lead to more effective treatment.

Targeting key vulnerabilities of cancer:

Cancer cells and their stem cell counterparts are marked by distinct metabolic characteristics and vulnerabilities, including an overreliance on aerobic glycolysis, known as the Warburg effect, and an increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These peculiarities fuel their rapid proliferation and create specific Achilles’ heels that can be exploited therapeutically. By inducing energy restriction or manipulating ROS levels, alongside targeting the disrupted cell signaling pathways that enable cancer cells to grow uncontrollably and evade death, it becomes possible to selectively eliminate these cells. This approach, focusing on the metabolic and signaling vulnerabilities of cancer, offers a potentially promising avenue for overcoming the resistance often seen with conventional treatments and achieving therapeutic benefit. The numerous scientific references at the bottom provide a solid foundation for the key points below.

Energy metabolism:

Cancer cells and cancer stem cells exhibit metabolic peculiarities that render them particularly susceptible to energy restriction and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS). These cells typically rely on aerobic glycolysis, a less efficient form of energy production known as the Warburg effect, to fuel their rapid proliferation. This metabolic shift allows them to generate building blocks for new cells but also makes them heavily dependent on a constant supply of glucose and vulnerable to energy stress. When energy availability is restricted, cancer cells struggle to maintain their metabolic needs, leading to impaired growth and survival.

Reactive oxygen species:

Cancer’s altered metabolism results in an increased generation of ROS, which, at controlled levels, can promote cancer cell proliferation and survival. However, when ROS levels become excessive, they can cause significant damage to cellular components, leading to oxidative stress and subsequent cell death. Exploiting these vulnerabilities therapeutically offers a potentially promising strategy for targeting cancer cells and cancer stem cells. Agents that induce a state of energy restriction can challenge the cancer cells’ metabolic flexibility and ability to sustain their rapid growth and division. This approach can lead to energy stress within the tumor microenvironment, selectively impairing cancer cells more than normal cells due to the former’s heightened energy demands and reduced metabolic flexibility. On the other hand, strategies that increase ROS levels beyond the threshold that cancer cells can manage can exacerbate oxidative damage, leading to cell death. Agents that specifically elevate ROS within cancer cells or inhibit their antioxidant defenses can push the redox balance toward a state that is cytotoxic to cancer cells.

Pro-survival signaling pathways:

In healthy cells, intricate cell signaling pathways act like traffic lights, regulating growth, division, and death. However, in cancer, mutations can jam these “lights,” triggering uncontrolled cell growth and spread. Aberrant signaling, often involving growth factors and receptor proteins, allows cancer cells to proliferate without proper checks, evade programmed cell death (apoptosis), and acquire traits like increased mobility and invasion. Fortunately, this dependence on altered signaling presents an opportunity. By targeting specific components of these pathways, we can disrupt the cancer’s communication network, hindering its ability to grow, resist therapy, and spread, offering a potentially promising avenue for cancer treatment and prevention.

In summary, therapeutically inducing energy restriction and manipulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, alongside disrupting aberrant cell signaling pathways, makes it possible to selectively target cancer cells and cancer stem cells for destruction. Focusing on these critical aspects, an integrated approach represents a potentially promising new direction for cancer treatment.

A more unified approach to cancer treatment:

If one were to design the “ideal” integrative cancer treatment, it should include the following features:

Minimal pill burden (i.e., fewer pills to take)
Applicable to most cancer types and stages
Well tolerated with low systemic toxicity
Addresses key vulnerabilities of cancer, especially energy restriction, excessive reactive oxygen species, and cell-signaling inhibition
Targets bulk tumor cells and cancer stem cells (cancer stem cells are at the root of cancer initiation, metastasis, treatment resistance, and cancer recurrence)
Instructs on proper diet and lifestyle
Promotes immune destruction of cancer cells and removal of tumor debris
Optimizes the gut microbiome to enhance the efficacy of conventional cancer treatment and reduce treatment-related toxicity
Provides guidance to help navigate the complex landscape of conventional cancer treatment options

Looking carefully at the published scientific literature, the following items, when taken together, help to unify the features listed above:

Anti-cancer diet and lifestyle (click here)
D-mannose
Docosahexaenoic acid
High-ozonide ozonated oil
Niclosamide (liposomal)
Disulfiram (liposomal)
Piperlongumine (liposomal)
Broad spectrum probiotic + prebiotic

Click here to learn the details about the various anticancer mechanisms of action of the above items.

Niclosamide, disulfiram, and piperlongumine have remarkable anti-cancer properties but face these significant challenges:

Low water solubility limits absorption
Rapid degradation in the bloodstream reduces systemic availability
Poor cellular uptake restricts anti-cancer effects

Liposomalization can mitigate these issues by:

Maximizing bioavailability: Liposomes enhance the solubility of niclosamide, disulfiram, and piperlongumine, thereby ensuring the drugs are efficiently absorbed into the systemic circulation.
Extending the duration of action: The liposomal format extends the duration of action through the sustained release of the drugs in the bloodstream, ensuring a longer-lasting impact on cancer cells.
Enhancing cellular uptake: Due to their structural similarity to cell membranes, liposomes can merge with these membranes, enabling them to directly transport the drugs into cancer cells. This process results in elevated levels of the drugs inside the cells.

An integrated cancer therapy approach combining energy restriction, ROS manipulation, and disruption of signaling pathways targets cancer’s metabolic and signaling peculiarities. Utilizing compounds like D-mannose, docosahexaenoic acid, high-ozonide ozonated oil, niclosamide, disulfiram, and piperlongumine, this strategy exploits cancer’s metabolic and cell-signaling anomalies. It seeks to reduce pill burden, enhance treatment efficacy across cancer types, lower toxicity, and target cancer cells and stem cells. This approach enhances existing treatments and boosts the immune response against cancer, providing a potentially promising path to overcome metastasis, treatment resistance, and disease recurrence.

Patient care and treatment cost:

An oncologist typically manages the care of 250-500 patients simultaneously. In contrast, Dr. Thomas prioritizes highly individualized attention by capping his practice to no more than 50 patients. This elevates the quality of his care and allows him the time needed for ongoing research to continuously improve the care of his patients.

The protocol above requires close medical oversight by Dr. Thomas. Following an initial physical examination in his office, patients commence their treatment. Monthly follow-up appointments are scheduled and can be conducted through telemedicine or in-person visits. Patients enjoy unrestricted email access to Dr. Thomas throughout their treatment, ensuring they receive continuous and responsive support.

Our services are less expensive than alternative cancer treatment often sought in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, or Europe. In these locations, clinics charge $7,000 to $20,000 weekly for medical treatment or $40,000 to $120,000 for experimental procedures. Despite these exorbitant fees, some of these clinics fail to provide adequate follow-up care or fail to block key survival pathways of cancer, either of which may result in poor treatment outcomes.

References:

Moving Toward a More Unified Approach to Cancer Treatment

Dr. Daniel Thomas, DO, MS