Jul
06
2024

New Protein Biomarkers Help Diagnose Cancer 7 Years earlier

By | Arthritis, breast cancer, Cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, prostate cancer

Several studies showed that new protein markers help diagnose cancer 7 years earlier than conventional tests. One study described how researchers were able to diagnose 19 different cancers years before other tests could show these results. Another study confirmed that 2,074 circulating proteins showed an association with 9 cancers. These consisted of bladder, breast, endometrium, head and neck, lung, ovary, pancreas, kidney, and malignant non-melanoma.

First study

The first study found 371 plasma protein markers that pointed to an increased cancer risk. 107 of them showed an association with cancers that physicians could only diagnose 7 years later. The researchers stated that there was an opportunity for early diagnosis and treatment. The treatment results would be much better than it is the case with a later diagnosis. In this study researchers examined plasma from 503,317 adults aged 39 to 73.

Second study

The second study found an association between 40 specific proteins and 9 common cancers as mentioned above. Researchers examined a total of 2,074 circulating proteins in 337,822 cancer cases. Of the 2074 circulating proteins only 40 proteins were specific for the nine cancers that I mentioned above.

Proteomics

The scientists who performed the studies with data from the UK Biobank specialized in the discipline of proteomics. This involves a thorough investigation of proteins in blood plasma. Here is a summary of a discussion of the findings of both studies.

The first study identified plasma proteins that showed linkage to an increased risk of cancer of the liver, digestive and gastrointestinal tracts, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as colorectal, lung, kidney, brain, stomach, esophagus, endometrium, and blood cancers.

The second study showed links of protein markers to these 9 cancers: bladder, triple-negative breast, endometrium, head and neck, lung, ovary, pancreas, kidney, and malignant non-melanoma.

The authors of both studies felt that their findings contributed to an early diagnosis of these cancers. Specifically, analysis of blood plasma proteins can diagnose cancer 7 years before a clinical diagnosis.

Discussion

Joshua Atkins, PhD, BBmedSci, a senior genomic epidemiologist at the University of Oxford stated: “Proteins that are not causal for cancer development, but are a consequence of cancer growth can provide avenues for detecting cancers at an earlier stage when treatment can be more successful.” Dr. Atkins said further: “Nevertheless, disruption of these processes can result in diseases including cancer. For some proteins, higher blood levels are linked to higher cancer risk, while others may be protective, so higher levels are linked to lower risk.” He explained further that protein concentrations are not always related to one tissue type. He said: “The protein FGFR3 is linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer, but lowering its levels is tied to an increased osteoarthritis risk.” It will take more investigations before a clinical test is available that physicians can order to diagnose cancer early.

New Protein Biomarkers Help Diagnose Cancer 7 Years earlier

New Protein Biomarkers Help Diagnose Cancer 7 Years earlier

Conclusion

Blood proteins showed linkage to a number of cancers in two separate research papers based on the UK Biobank data. The first study identified plasma proteins that were linked to an increased risk of cancer of the liver, digestive and gastrointestinal tracts, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as colorectal cancer, also lung, kidney, brain, stomach, esophagus, endometrium, and blood cancers.

The second study showed links of protein markers to these 9 cancers: bladder, triple-negative breast, endometrium, head and neck, lung, ovary, pancreas, kidney, and malignant non-melanoma. On average these sensitive cancer tests can diagnose cancer 7 years before a clinician is able to diagnose it. In the future your doctor may screen you for cancer as you age, as cancer is mostly a disease of older people. Earlier diagnosis of cancer will give better treatment results.

Mar
07
2022

T-Cell Immunotherapy Cures Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

By | Cancer, genetic marker, immune system, leukemia

T-cell immunotherapy cures chronic lymphocytic leukemia after 10 years. Researchers were able to use the blood of leukemia patients and modify immune cells to attack their cancer cells. Specifically, they introduced a chimeric antigen receptor into immune cells from patients in the lab. Subsequently they transfused the modified immune cells back into the leukemia patients. After 10 years researchers detected the same active cytotoxic T lymphocytes in both chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients, which contained the chimeric antigen receptor marker. This means that active cytotoxic lymphocytes, that also have the name of killer T cells, continued to eliminate any pathological cells from the lymphocytic leukemia patients.

The immune system explained

The immune system can respond with two major responses. The B lymphocytes originate from the bone marrow and turn into antibody producing plasma cells. With viruses this system works very well as it inactivates viruses that the immune system recognizes don’t belong into the body. The other branch of the immune system are the thymus-processed T cells. These are important to eradicate cancer cells. They are also called CD4 cells or cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Often tumor cells produce specific proteins that suppress the immune cells. But the researchers of these two chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients managed to introduce a chimeric antigen receptor into the CD4 cells that specifically targeted the leukemia cells. The immune system in these patients was working optimally and remained active for 10 years.

Some statistics regarding chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Here are some statistics of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). There were about 61,090 new cases of leukemia and 23,660 deaths from leukemia in 2021 in the US. Among these were 21,250 new cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). There were about 4,320 deaths from CLL. The average lifetime risk of getting CLL is 1 in 175 people or 0.5% of the population. The risk of getting CLL is slightly higher for men than women. CLL is a leukemia of older people, the average age at the time of diagnosis is 70 years. CLL is rare under the age of 40 and extremely rare in children.

Potential serious side effects of T-cell immunotherapy

Dr. David Porter, one of the authors of the study published in Nature said that this type of immunotherapy can have serious side effects. He added that therapies have become safer over the years. Oncologists are giving immunotherapies like the one which I described to hundreds and thousands of patients.

Here are the more common side effects.

  • The tumor lysis syndrome: when the tumor cells are all attacked at the same time, there is a lot of tumor cell destruction and the contents of the cells end up in the blood. This makes the patient rather sick for a few days. There can be serious electrolyte abnormalities that have to be countered with intravenous fluids. The toxins can also cause kidney damage, which physicians monitor closely.
  • Cytokine release syndrome: With this syndrome people develop a high fever, nausea, vomiting, much like a severe flu. They also develop muscle aches and joint pains. Patients can develop extremely low blood pressure. This occurs because fluid leaks into the lungs, which also causes problems breathing.
  • Neurologic toxicity: There can be a loss of speech and thought disturbances. Seizures can develop and the patients may turn comatose. Nevertheless most patients recover from this spontaneously.

Details of one case of CLL with successful treatment

Doug Olson was one of the patients who was studied in the publication in Nature. His original diagnosis was chronic lymphocytic leukemia when he was 49 years old. For 6 years he did not need much treatment. But then his leukemia flared up and chemotherapy got his CLL into remission for 5 years. Generally, leukemia behaves this way that treatment gets it into remission (meaning the leukemia is controlled). But on another occasion, it gets into a relapse, which means the leukemia flares up again. 11 years after the original diagnosis of the CLL there was a rapid decline due to another relapse. In a bone marrow biopsy 50% of the white blood cells were CLL and 50% were normal.

Infusion of CAR-T cells

He received his first infusion of CAR-T cells in September of 2010. Following this he became very sick and the oncologist hospitalized him for three days. One week later the oncologist could not find any more cancer cells in his body. But the cancer specialists were very reluctant to call it a cure at that time. Fast forward 10 years. And now there are still no cancer cells in Doug’s body. The blood analysis showed that active CAR-T cells are in Doug’s blood monitoring for him that no CLL cells reoccur. Now, 21 years after the initial diagnosis of his CLL the oncologists are convinced that the T-Cell Immunotherapy was what cured Doug.

Discussion

CLL is a special form of blood cancer. Chemotherapy has been successful in increasing survivor rates over the years. But the end of the patient with CLL comes from a final relapse of this leukemia form, which eventually no longer responds to chemotherapy. The researchers in this publication used a novel immunotherapy approach, where they introduced a chimeric antigen receptor into immune cells of patients in the lab. Subsequently they transfused this back into the leukemia patients.

T-cell Immunotherapy used surveillance T cells successfully

These modified immune cells became the “surveillance team” that eradicated new CLL cells and destroyed them on an ongoing basis. This immune therapy is getting rid of the last CLL tumor cell. The two cases described in this paper and investigated thoroughly after 10 years of immunotherapy intervention were completely free of CLL cells in their bone marrow biopsies. Two cases are not enough data, but it is a powerful result for a pilot study. Oncologists have to produce much larger clinical trials with more patients. This establishes that this new immunotherapy is superior to conventional chemotherapy and indeed prolongs survival compared to chemotherapy alone.

T-Cell Immunotherapy Cures Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

T-Cell Immunotherapy Cures Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Conclusion

This pilot study showed that the immune system can be stimulated to suppress and eradicate leukemia (CLL) cancer cells. The authors introduced a chimeric antigen receptor into immune cells that were taken from patients. The researchers obtained blood samples. Then they introduced a chimeric antigen receptor into immune cells in the lab. Subsequently they injected these CAR-T cells back into the CLL patients. In these patients the CAR-T cells behaved like surveillance cells, which eradicated leukemia cancer cells on an ongoing basis. After 10 years of follow-up in two patients in this pilot study the clinicians could not find any CLL cancer cells in their bone marrows, but the CAR-T cells were still present. This type of study is encouraging as it is a model for immunotherapy of other cancers. It is a promising start, but obviously researchers need to do more studies to fine-tune cancer immunotherapy.

May
30
2020

New Multi Cancer Blood Screening Test

By | breast cancer, Cancer, cervical cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, prostate cancer

A recent publication describes how a new multi cancer blood screening test can diagnose various cancers early. Many years back the same research group at the Johns Hopkins Medical School did lung cancer screening studies. The researchers then were analyzing saliva samples between 1974 and 1982. They identified 15 patients who later developed adenocarcinoma of the lung. The researchers were able to diagnose the lung cancer 1 year prior to what ordinary screening tests could do. This ensured an early diagnosis and early treatment with a better long-term prognosis.

Liquid biopsy promises early cancer detection

The new publication from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is based on the following fact: Cancer cells consist of mutated cells. They shed DNA with mutations typical for this cancer into the bloodstream. By taking blood samples and analyzing the circulating mutated DNA researchers can first establish that the DNA belongs to a certain cancer mutation. But at the same time, they can locate the cancer, if they find mutated DNA. The pathologist can say that the patient has a cancer in a breast, the colon, lungs or ovaries, wherever it is located.

Oncoblot test was a precursor to the multi cancer blood screening test

Around 2014 a cancer screening test came out of the human genome project. It was called the Oncoblot test. It screened for 25 of the most common cancers. And it was screening for ENOX2 proteins from cancer cells. Apparently, this is a fetal protein normally expressed only during fetal life, bit in adults only expressed when a cell turns cancerous. It was a 1000 USD test in the US that health plans did not cover. But it screened for more than 25 different common cancers 6 to 8 years before they become clinically manifest: Suddenly around 2017 the Oncoblot test was no longer available. I could not find out the reason for this. Was the test producing too many false positives or false negatives? This would have made this cancer screening test unreliable. Apparently researchers of the Oncoblot test company are attempting to refine the test further.

My own case of prostate cancer

Strangely enough in 2016 I had an Oncoblot test done and it accurately diagnosed that I had prostate cancer. My cancer specialist from Ft. Lauderdale used Doppler ultrasound to visualize it and performed a 3-dimensional prostate biopsy to verify the histology. Subsequently he removed it with ablation cryotherapy, because a study of his involving 70 prostate cancer patients and spanning over 10 years had shown the best survival data. My 3-monthly PSA values since have been negative for recurrent prostate cancer.

New multi cancer blood screening test from Johns Hopkins Medical School

A review in Science magazine explains the details of the new multi cancer blood screening test. It is called CancerSEEK and is based on 16 common genetic markers that show changes in cancer cells. In addition, the researchers also test for cancer-related proteins, which change when cancer cells are present. The test also indicates the location of the early cancer. CancerSEEK can detect about 60% of liver cancers and 100% of ovarian cancer. The researchers tested 812 healthy controls. Only 7 (1%) tested positive for cancer. CancerSEEK also tested 1005 patients who had early cancer.

More details of the CancerSEEK test

The test detected between 33% and 98% of cases, which depended on the tumor type. The sensitivity was 69% or higher for stomach, pancreatic, and esophageal cancers; ovarian and liver cancer had a sensitivity of 98%. In 80% of the cases physicians could narrow the positive cancer test to two possible sites. The researchers think that the cost of one CancerSEEK test will be less than 500.00 USD. There is another study described where 9,911 participants were enrolled. 25 cancers were found. The diagnosis involved 2 lymphomas, 2 colorectal cancers, one appendix cancer, 2 uterine cancers, one thyroid cancer, one kidney cancer, 9 lung cancers, one breast cancer and 6 ovarian cancers. This study will continue to go on for another 5 years.

Possible problems with the new multi cancer blood screening test

Researchers dubbed the cancer screening test as “liquid biopsies” with the purpose to detect hidden cancers. The smaller the cancer is, the less the cancer cells excrete DNA and cancer proteins into the bloodstream. This means that in some of the early cancer cases the sensitivity of the test could be very small. Because many cancers will be detected much earlier there could be definite cures, if the cancer is in an early stage. On the other hand, Dr. Nickolas Papadopoulos from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, said: “The issue is not overdiagnosis, but overtreatment.” Some of the small tumors may never turn into larger tumors and it is justified to observe for a period of time.

A large 5-year clinical study involving up to 50,000 women is the next project to test the CancerSEEK test further. A private philanthropic group, The Marcus Foundation, is funding this project.

New Multi Cancer Blood Screening Test

New Multi Cancer Blood Screening Test

Conclusion

A new multi cancer blood screening test, the CancerSEEK test, is in development. It is based on a combination of various cancer markers. Researchers measure cancer DNA mutations and also cancer proteins. They also determine the tissue location of the cancer. Researchers did much work already in terms of sensitivity and specificity of the test. Physicians integrate the test further with conventional medical tests to confirm the location of the cancer. With breast cancer mammograms are the additional tests, with colorectal cancer colonoscopies. A large 5-year clinical study involving up to 50,000 women is the next project to test the CancerSEEK test further. In future the CancerSEEK test will become a routine screening test for cancer. The cost for one CancerSEEK test will be less than 500.00 USD. The hope is that cancer cures will improve due to earlier detection.

Apr
20
2019

Some Reasons For Variations In Cancer Rates

By | alcohol, breast cancer, Cancer, cervical cancer, exercise, Fitness, heart attack, leukemia, lung cancer, mitochondria, Nutrition, Obesity, prostate cancer, Smoking, sugar, telomeres

It can be confusing to see that various countries have big differences in cancer rates, but here I am giving some reasons for variations in cancer rates.

The following countries have high cancer rates: Denmark, France, Belgium, United States, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia.

These countries have low cancer rates: Niger, Yemen, Oman, Nepal, Mauritania, Gambia, Cape VerSe, Bhutan. These are only samples; it is not a complete list.

Short life expectancy in many low cancer rate countries

People in many low cancer rate countries do not live long lives because of parasitic infestations, bacterial infections and AIDS. Life expectancy in Gambia, for instance is only 61.15 years. People in Yemen suffer from malnutrition and the life expectancy is only 64.95 years. One can make an argument therefore that people do not live long enough to get a lot of cancer. Cancer is a disease of the older population, as DNA mutations, shorter telomeres, and loss of mitochondria in older cells cause many cancers.

These three countries have various cancer rates

Low cancer rates in India

India is one of the countries with lower cancer rates when compared to the US. Scientists have pointed out that 40% of Indians are consuming vegetarian diets without meat; (red meat consumed in high amounts like in the US is carcinogenic). India has some of the highest spice consumption in the world. We know that curcumin, for instance, has cancer-preventing qualities. You could say that Indians inadvertently treat themselves with herbal, non-toxic chemotherapy (curcumin and others spices) before a cancer even occurs. On the other hand India is a nation with high consumption of refined sugar, which is a factor that can cause cancer over a long period of time. The life expectancy in India is only 68.56 years, which skews the statistics towards lower cancer rates when one compares India to countries with a life expectancy of 80.0 years.

Why is Denmark a high cancer rate country?

The biggest factors are a reliable cancer reporting system, but also a high smoking rate among Danish women and high alcohol consumption in the Danish population. See below what these factors do.

Why is Oman a low cancer rate country?

A study done in Oman showed that a lot of people do not know that certain risk factors could be changed to lower the present cancer incidence. Cigarette smoking, passive smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, reduced intake of fruit and vegetables, increased consumption of red meat and processed meats, infection with HPV, being overweight, less physical activity and an age above 70 are all risk factors for cancer. At the present time Oman still compares favorably with the US, as there is less obesity in Oman. But the average person still eats fairly healthy with an emphasis on fruit and vegetables.

Increasing cancer rates in Oman

The cigarette consumption per year per person in Oman is 271.1 versus 1016.6 in the US. The life expectancy has increased from 50.47 in 1970 to 77.03 in 2016. Oman is expecting the cancer rate to double by the year 2030 due to the increasing life expectancy and lifestyle factors (more drinking, smoking and gaining weight from junk food). A lot of the differences in the cancer rates between the US and Oman are simply due to lifestyle differences. 

Cancer risk factors analyzed

What do the various cancer risks mean in terms of cancer development?

Cigarette smoking

About 480,000 premature deaths are caused by cigarette smoking in the US. This is due to a combination of cancer, heart attacks and strokes. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, cervix, colon, rectum, but also acute myeloid leukemia.

Passive smoking

Passive smoking is as bad, if not worse than smoking. This reference explains that a passive smoker has double exposure to cigarette smoke, namely to the smoke from the smoker, but also to the direct smoke from the burning cigarette. This means that a passive smoker may have exposure to a higher concentration of carcinogens than the smoker!

Excessive alcohol consumption

Heavy alcohol consumption introduces a cell poison into your body. If you drink more than 8 drinks per week as a woman or more than 15 drinks per week as a man, you are a heavy drinker. It leads to cancer of the mouth, esophagus, throat, colon, liver, breast and prostate. The data on prostate cancer is somewhat weaker.

Reduced intake of fruit and vegetables

Consumption of fruits and vegetables, but also foods high in fibre are known to reduce the risk of cancer. So, when you lower the intake of fruits and vegetables, you have less of a cancer protective effect, which leads to more cancer.

Increased consumption of red meat and processed meats

Another big factor about cancer causation is when you eat foods that contain known carcinogens. Such cancer causing substances are contained in red meat, processed meat like sausages, and salt-preserved foods.

Infection with HPV

Type 16 and 18 HPV virus is the cause of cervical cancer, penile cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, vulvar and vaginal cancer. It can be of concern for all sexually active people.

Being overweight

When a person gets overweight or obese, there is more estrogen production from the fat cells that circulate in your blood.  There is also more insulin production and IGF-1 production, which is a growth factor for cancer cells. Estrogen dominance due to estrogen production from fat cells with a relative lack of cancer-controlling progesterone tips the balance towards cancer development. These are the cancers that are common in obesity: breast (in women past menopause), colon and rectum, endometrium (lining of the uterus), esophagus, kidneys and pancreas.

Less physical activity

Breast cancer and colon cancer are reduced when people exercise regularly. This seems to be because of a reduction in circulating estrogen in women and because of reduced insulin and insulin-like growth factors. Even prostate cancer can be kept at bay with a regular brisk walk.

An age above 70

The medium age for cancer diagnosis is 66 years. This means that half of the cases are below this age, the other half above it.  25% of new cancer cases are diagnosed in the age group of 65 to 74. Age is an independent, but important risk factor for the development of cancer.

Sugar and starchy food consumption

Refined sugar and starchy foods lead to an accumulation of fat. At the same time there is a metabolic change with more insulin production and growth factors appear in the blood. It is these growth factors and an increase in estrogen (via aromatase) from the fat cells that lead to conditions that favor cancer development. Switch to a low-glycemic diet like a Mediterranean diet, and you can reverse this process.

Some Reasons For Variations In Cancer Rates

Some Reasons For Variations In Cancer Rates

Conclusion

It is never too late to reduce your cancer risk. No matter how old we are, it is never too late to live healthier, which translates into a stronger immune system. We can stop smoking, or cut out drinking too much. If we keep a healthy weight and eat a healthy diet we will stop chronic inflammation in our bodies and strengthen our immune system. We need to stay away from ultraviolet light (direct sun exposure). We also need to stay active, no matter whether it is choosing to take the stairs and take daily walks, or whether we exercise regularly in a gym.

Mar
30
2019

Obesity Fuels Cancer Development

By | Cancer, diet, food, leukemia, Nutrition, Obesity

A recent review by the American Cancer Society found that obesity fuels cancer development. As a matter of fact, what the researchers found was that younger millennials are more in danger of both getting obese and of getting obesity related cancers. Also, the rates of baby boomers with respect to obesity-related cancer were much lower than rates from millennials.

Results of the study showing obesity fuels cancer development

In like manner, as the summary by CNN shows, there is an increase of obesity and also an increase of various cancers of the population of millennials versus the same age group among baby boomers. As an illustration, take pancreatic cancer, one of the obesity related cancers. Normally it occurs in people above the age of 65. Here is the increase of frequencies according to age group:

Ages 25 to 29: 4.34% increase.

People aged 30 to 34: 2.47% increase.

Age bracket 35 to 39: 1.31% increase.

Those aged 40 to 44 years: 0.72% increase.

With this in mind you can see clearly that the younger age group is at a higher risk for developing pancreatic cancer. Certainly, the problem is that obesity in children has become more rampant and this has led to early obesity by the age of 35. The other side of the coin in this case is an increased pancreatic cancer rate.

Other cancers that are obesity-related

Indeed, 6 out of 12 obesity related cancers have shown an increase in frequency because of increasing obesity. These cancers are: multiple myeloma, colorectal cancer, uterine cancer, gallbladder, kidney, and pancreatic cancer.

Notably, people born around 1985 had a higher rate of multiple myeloma and kidney cancer than people born around 1950. Multiple myeloma was 1.59-fold higher and kidney cancer 4.91-fold higher in the group of people born around 1985 in comparison to people born around 1950.

Cancer associated with obesity, but may not be caused by obesity

MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Dr. George Chang, who was not associated with the analysis cautioned: “The study was not set up to establish causation. We know there are many factors that have an association with both obesity and cancer, such as lack of exercise and poor diet. How much each of those factors contribute to cancer is less clear.” Specifically, the study found that the rate of obesity-related cancers in millennials now is about double the rate of what it was in baby-boomers at the same age.

Discussion of the obesity and cancer problem

  1. First of all, obesity is now starting in childhood, teenagers and young adults. 5 of the 6 obesity related cancers (colorectal, uterine, gallbladder, kidney and pancreatic cancer) have increased in the younger population. These require mostly surgery and according to Dr. Chang, who is an oncological surgeon, complication rates are higher among obese patients. Dr. Chang added that chances are also that complications will be more severe.
  2. Secondly, we need government-sponsored programs to reverse the obesity trend. This should include changing the diet from the Standard American diet (essentially junk food) to a Mediterranean diet. There should be an elimination of sugar and starchy foods or the use should be just a bare minimum. Reducing or even eliminating red meat is definitely necessary. The WHO has determined that beef, pork and lamb are causing cancer, because they contain weak carcinogens.  Coupled with this is the necessity to initiated regular exercise programs.
  3. Thirdly, fatty tissue in obese patients release growth factors and proteins that function as hormone-like factors stimulating cell growth. These factors stimulate any carcinogenic process. Researchers are still actively working on analyzing this process further.
Obesity Fuels Cancer Development

Obesity Fuels Cancer Development

Conclusion

Childhood obesity has already had the result that obesity-related cancers (multiple myeloma, colorectal cancer, uterine cancer, gallbladder, kidney, and pancreatic cancer) occur at a younger age and more frequently. The cancer rate among obese millennials now is already double the number of what the baby-boomers was at the same age. The key is to treat obesity aggressively with regular fitness programs and with a major diet shift. We know what caused the obesity wave. It is overconsumption of sugar, junk foods, starchy foods, processed foods and fat overuse.

A major change in diet

This means the kids need to cut out sugar. An alternative is to sweeten only with stevia, if they need a sweet taste. They also need to cut out starchy foods like potatoes, pasta, rice, bread and processed food. Processed food contains a lot of sugar and gluten from wheat. Gluten and sugar both stimulate the appetite center. This is what we want to avoid. What remains is a Mediterranean diet without the junk from the North American diet. You end up eating a lot of vegetables, salads and fruit. Fish is a good protein source, poultry as well. Implementing these changes will show positive results for the health of the entire population, not only the millennials.

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Sep
01
2018

Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer After All

By | Cancer, leukemia

Re-investigation of whether or not cell phones can cause cancer revealed that cell phones can cause cancer after all. This publication comes from the Journal “The Guardian”. It turned out that for 25 years the cell phone industry managed to suppress scientific evidence of cancer. In many experiments scientists found brain cancer and adrenal gland cancer in rats from exposure to electromagnetic fields. Regulatory authorities based their statements on fake experiments that showed no apparent effect of EMF (electro-magnetic fields) on animals. There were never any human trials. But 25 years ago cell phones received a “clear signal” though in retrospect that was wrong. Now it turns out that this is one of the biggest human mass experiments.

Human cancer statistics

Exposure to radiation from an atom bomb can indeed bring on brain tumors. This Australian study investigated brain cancer rates in the 1980’s and in the early 2000’s. The conclusion was that cell phone exposure was about the same in  the 1980’s and the early 2000’s. Brain tumors were also the same. But at the bottom of this review the authors show some interesting statistics about Hiroshima. Brain cancers are shown as bar graphs in people who suffered exposure to the radiation of Hiroshima. The bar graphs compared brain cancer statistics between 31 years after Hiroshima and 41 to 50 years after Hiroshima. There still was a clear increase of brain tumors in the population 41 to 50 years after Hiroshima.

Long lag time

This is because brain cancer has a long lag time between radiation exposure and actual brain cancer occurrence. The prominent Sydney neurosurgeon, Dr. Charlie Teo said that there can be a long lag period of 10 to 20 years for electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) to cause brain cancer. EMF also has the name EMR (electromagnetic radiation). If one takes into account that EMF is much weaker than radiation from an atom bomb, the lag period of causing brain cancer could be much longer than what Dr. Teo assumed.

An international study found that gliomas were 40% more common in high cell phone users than in low cell phone users. For meningiomas the high cell phone users had 15% more meningiomas than low cell phone users. A previous British study assuming a lag period of 10 years found no gliomas in children and young persons as I reported 12 years ago. But this data might change with a lag period of 20 or 30 years or longer.

Political manoeuvres

The cigarette industry did not want to admit that cigarette smoke was causing lung cancer. In a similar vein the cell phone producers attempted to suppress any negative information about their products. They have been suppressing information that found any biological effect of EMF on tissues. And they funded studies that showed no effect by EMF.

The Guardian states: “The key strategic insight animating corporate propaganda campaigns is that a given industry doesn’t have to win the scientific argument about safety to prevail – it only has to keep the argument going. Keeping the argument going amounts to a win for industry, because the apparent lack of certainty helps to reassure customers, fend off government regulations and deter lawsuits that might pinch profits.” By pursuing this strategy over 30 years the industry has been very successful to undermine any scientist who found that cancer of the brain and cancer of the adrenal glands can occur after prolonged exposure to EMF.

What is the truth about EMF? 

The National Cancer Institute

The findings of the National Cancer Institute review are that there is no evidence that the exposure rate or intensity of EMF is strong enough to pose any risks to children or adults. It did acknowledge that exposure to living within 1 kilometer of high voltage power lines could cause leukemia in children. But EMF exposure is not comparable to EMF from these high power lines. The problem with the attitude of the National Cancer institute is that they don’t mention how the lag period can delay the occurrence of cancer by several decades. In other words, their observation time was cut short, and they simply concluded prematurely that EMF could not cause cancer.

World Health Organization

The WHO has done a thorough review of the world literature on the topic of EMF and possible effects on humans. It did acknowledge that the top 10% of heavy cell phone users are at a higher risk of gliomas and meningiomas as mentioned above. EMF exposure has to last for at least 10 years for this to occur. But the vast majority of cell phone users show no effect on the brain or elsewhere. The WHO makes the point that brain cancers may be more common, if EMF exposure to a person is 10 years or longer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified EMF as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”. It means that more exposure, longer duration of exposure, and closer tissue contact with EMF could cause cancer.

Cancer literature supports that cell phones can cause cancer after all

In a website by Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby several factors come up that support the notion that EMG is capable of causing DNA damage to cells given the right circumstances.

  • Children are much more vulnerable in their brains than adults to get brain cancer. As a result, when children play with cell phones and other gadgets that emit EMF they will be more likely to develop brain cancer later in life.
  • Acoustic neuromas in the auditory nerve are 5-fold more likely to develop in children than in adults.
  • Swedish researcher, Prof. Lennart Hardell presented a talk at a cancer conference, which stated the following: People who started to use cell phones before the age of 20 had a 5-fold risk to get gliomas, which is a brain cancer type.
  • Other research showed that exposure of children to EMF from cordless phones in a household caused a 4-fold higher risk of developing gliomas later in life than controls who did not have EMF exposure.
  • Keith Scott-Mumby also stated that brain tissue of children absorbed EMF twice as much as adults do, and similarly, bone marrow of children absorbed EMF 10 times as much as adults do.
  • An Indian study in 2005 was comparing people who had no EMF exposure with people who used a cell phone for 1 to 15 hours per day. DNA damage was measured from buccal scrapings (the lining inside the cheek). The controls had only 4% of DNA damage. The frequent cell phone users had DNA damage in 39.75% of their buccal scrapings. We know from other literature that the first step to developing cancer is a mutation of the DNA. After a certain lag period cancer can develop in tissue with mutated DNA.
Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer After All

Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer After All

Conclusion

EMF, the low-grade radiation of electronic gadgets like i-phones, cell phones in general and cordless phones, has an effect on our body cells. We are not aware of this effect. But the body knows on a cellular level that part of our DNA has been damaged. Fortunately, we do have protective mechanisms in place that safe us from most of these damages. But children who are not fully developed yet are at a disadvantage. Their bone marrow and brains are much more prone to develop various types of leukemia and brain cancers. This is why it makes sense to limit their exposure to EMF emitting devices.

At this point the government institutions have not developed recommendations what to do about this problem. The industry has no interest in providing guidelines, as they want to sell more gadgets and increase their market share.

Add to this that even the wiring in a house is sending out weak signals of EMF, which is added to all of the other effects of EMF from cell phones, TV and computer use. We need to rethink our exposure to EMF and balance our lifestyle with other activities where we are not subject to this exposure.

We also need to eat an anti-cancer diet, like a Mediterranean diet. This diet has shown to be an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant diet preventing cancer. All of this can balance our exposure to EMF and offer us preventative measures to stay healthy.

May
20
2017

Prevention Of Telomere Shortening

By | Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Dementia, depression, Diabetes, exercise, Inflammation, leukemia, lifestyle, lung cancer, Mortality, telomeres

Dr. Mark Rosenberg gave a talk on prevention of telomere shortening. This was presented at the 24th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine (Dec. 9-11, 2016) in Las Vegas that I attended. The detailed title was: “The Clinical Value of Telomere Testing”.

What are telomeres?

Telomeres are the caps at the end of chromosomes. They are very important in the aging process. Prematurely shortened telomeres are linked closely to all major diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and more. Telomeres are also a measure of the aging process. Aging occurs due to a decrease of the number of cells in organs and/or because of a lack of functioning of these organs. Telomeres get shortened every time a cell divides. But when the telomeres are used up, there comes a time when cells can no longer divide. These cells become senescent cells or they enter apoptosis (programmed cell death).

The senescent cells can become a problem when they get transformed into cancer cells and their telomeres lengthen again. These cancer cells divide rapidly and this can become the reason why cancer patients to die.

What is the significance of telomeres?

Telomere dysfunction is the first sign that the telomeres are getting shorter in a person compared to the average telomere length in a comparable age group. This is not only important for aging, but also has clinical implications. The shorter telomeres are, the higher the risk for cardiovascular disease. Telomere length also provides prognostic information about the mortality risk (risk of dying) with type 2 diabetes and for many cancers. Many physicians incorporate a telomere blood test into periodic health checks, if the patient can afford it.

Interventions that help telomere length

Here are a number of things we can do to lengthen our telomeres.

  1. Rosenberg mentioned that the strongest effect on telomere lengthening comes from caloric restriction and weight loss. 80 years ago they showed at the Cornell University that rats put on calorie restriction had a 30% increase in their mean and maximum lifespan. Many research papers have confirmed that the same is true in man and that the common denominator is telomere lengthening.
  2. Next are regular physical activity, meditation, reduction of alcohol consumption and stopping to smoke.
  3. Taking antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids regularly will also lengthen telomeres.
  4. Improving one’s dietary pattern by adopting a Mediterranean type diet that contains cold-pressed, virgin olive oil.
  5. Telomerase activators. Here is some background on the TA-65 telomerase activator, which is based on Chinese medicine. A one year trial was completed with 250 units and 1000 units of TA-65 per day. The lower dose (250 units) showed effective telomere lengthening, while the placebo dose did not. The 1000 unit dose did not show statistical significance.

Should you wish to take TA-65, only take 250 units per day, not more.

Cancer and telomeres

There is a strong correlation between cancer and telomere shortening. When cells are at the brink of dying toward the end of their life cycle the telomeres get shorter and shorter. This is the point where the cells can turn malignant. Certain genetic abnormalities help the malignant transformation, like 11q or 17q deletions or a p53-dependent apoptosis response. Once cancer cells have established themselves they activate telomerase in 85% of cases. In the remaining 15% of cancer cases telomeres are activated through telomerase-independent mechanisms. Here are a few examples.

CLL

CLL stands for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. It is a disease of the aging population. At age 90 people’s bone marrow cells have a telomere length of only 50% of the length at birth. This is the reason that in older age CLL is more common. Researchers observed a population segment and found that the shorter telomeres were, the poorer the overall prognosis and overall survival for CLL was.

Lung cancer

Researchers examined the telomerase activity in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. When telomerase activity was present, the 5-year survival was only 55%. When telomerase activity was absent, the prognosis was 90% survival after 5 years.

Prostate cancer

  1. Prostate cancer risk correlated with telomere shortening in stromal cells. Men with shorter telomere length in stromal cells had a 266% higher risk of death compared to men with normal telomere length.
  2. Another study took blood samples and determined the telomere length in lymphocytes (the immune cells). Those men who came down with prostate cancer within a year after they had their blood sample, had short telomeres. The risk for prostate cancer in these patients was 355% higher than in the prostate cancer negative controls.

Yet another study looked at surgical tissue samples from 596 men that

Underwent surgery for clinically localized prostate cancer. Patients whose samples showed variable telomere lengths in prostate cancer cells and shorter telomeres compared to prostate samples with less variable telomere length and longer telomeres had a much poorer prognosis. They had 8-times the risk to progress to lethal prostate cancer. And they had 14-times the risk of dying from their prostate cancer.

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is diverse and consists of cases whose origins are genetic (BRCA1 and BRCA2), but there are also cases where the cancer is local or has a higher stage. In families with mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 telomeres are significantly shorter than in spontaneous breast cancer. Increased telomerase activity in breast cancer cases is directly related to how invasive and aggressive the breast cancer is.

  1. In one study researchers analyzed blood leukocytes in 52 patients with breast cancer for telomere length  versus 47 control patients. Average telomere length was significantly shorter in patients with a more advanced stage of breast cancer than in early breast cancer. Mutated HER patients had the shortest telomeres. It follows from this that checking for the HER status and blood telomere testing adds to the knowledge of potential cancer development and prognosis.
  2. In patients with with larger breast tumors, more lymph node metastases and more vascular invasion the researchers found short telomere length of the cancer cells.
  3. More aggressive breast cancer cells have higher telomerase activity. More than 90% of triple negative breast cancers have short telomeres.

CNS disorders and telomeres

Dr. Rosenberg presented evidence for a correlation between shorter telomeres and the development of dementia. But dementias with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease are also linked to short leukocyte telomeres. The length of blood telomeres predicts how well stroke patients will do and how people with depression will respond to antidepressants.

Cardiovascular disease and telomeres

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system controls our blood pressure and keeps it constant. When this system is not stable, our blood pressure shoots up and causes cardiovascular disease. This is tough for the heart, as it has to pump harder against a higher-pressure gradient. A study of 1203 individuals was examining the connection between leukocyte telomere length and renin, aldosterone and angiotensin II activity. It concluded that oxidative stress and inflammatory responses affect the telomere length of leukocytes and that the more stress there is in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the more cardiovascular disease develops. The conclusion of the study was that the overall cardiovascular stress leads to shortening of leukocyte telomeres.

Prevention Of Telomere Shortening

Prevention Of Telomere Shortening

Conclusion

Telomere length testing from a simple blood test will become a more important test in the future as hopefully the cost comes down (currently about 300$). It can predict the general aging status by comparing a single case to the general telomere length of the public. But it can also predict the cancer risk, risk for mental disease and cognitive deficits (Alzheimer’s disease). In addition your cardiovascular status correlated globally with this test. What are the options for the patient, if the test comes back with short telomeres?

It allows you to change your lifestyle and adopt a healthy diet. You can exercise regularly, take antioxidants and meditate. There are even telomerase activators that are gradually becoming more known. They lengthen the telomeres. The cost of telomerase activators will likely still be a problem for some time. All in all telomere length tests are here to stay, but healthy lifestyle choices are the only tool for effective intervention at this point. This is good news: healthy lifestyle choices like non-smoking, exercise and avoiding non-processed foods are either free or have a reasonable price tag. Telomerase activators are big business and at this point not really affordable!