How scorpions became an unlikely ally in the fight against cancer

           Jim Olson is a paediatric oncologist whose research is being talked about around the world thanks to some innovative thinking – and scorpions. Based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, he leads a team whose biggest success is “tumour paint”, a drug that attaches to cancer cells, lighting them up so it is easier for surgeons to operate successfully.

The paint was developed from chlorotoxin found in scorpion venom and is currently being tested in clinical trials. So excited was Olson, 52, by this discovery that he had the knot of bonds at the centre of the chlorotoxin molecule tattooed on his upper arm. Decorating his office are framed photographs of his patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital, who are clearly the motivation for his work: he is driven by a desire to tell more parents their children will survive.

His quiet, unassuming manner belies the passion and energy with which Olson approaches life – both at work and in his leisure time when he cooks, cycles and kayaks (his team won a national title in 2012) with gusto.

He remains close to many of the families he meets and is a tireless campaigner, successfully using social media and crowdfunding to publicise and raise money for his research.

Your biggest success is “tumour paint”, which makes cancer cells easier to spot during brain surgery and is now in five human clinical trials. How was this developed?
We had a patient who had brain tumour surgery in 2004, which left much of her tumour behind because the surgeon thought it was normal brain and didn’t want to paralyse her. When we realised how much was left behind and the problem for the surgeon not being able to easily distinguish cancer from normal brain, we committed to developing a technology that would light up the cancer. We focused on the scorpion toxin chlorotoxin, because what was thought to be the target of that molecule was present on brain tumour cells but not on brain cells. I figured that if there was ever a creature that could get a molecule into the brain, it would be the scorpion because they need to paralyse their prey. So we grew a human tumour on the back of a mouse; we connected the toxin (from the deathstalker scorpion) to a fluorescent tag and injected it into the mouse, and a couple of hours later the cancer was brightly glowing. It was a very exciting day.

As well as lighting them up, can this scorpion molecule also deliver chemotherapy drugs to tumours?
This wouldn’t be the right molecule to do that because a fair amount of it also goes to the liver and the spleen. If we put a toxin on it, it would also wipe out those normal organs. Through our current research we’ve identified a different molecule from a different organism – a grasshopper – that goes to cancer but much less to the liver and spleen. That’s the foundation for our future work.


Does tumour paint work for other cancers?
 
In prior work, the tumour paint molecule, known as BLZ-100, lit up a variety of cancers in dogs. Now scientists at Blaze Bioscience [the spin-off company co-founded by Olson which is running the ongoing human clinical trials] have reported that in skin cancer patients, the BLZ-100 signal was present in nearly all cases of confirmed cancer and was absent in most cases where the pathologist determined that the skin lesion was not cancer.

What is the difference between tumour paint and fluorescent imaging with 5-ALA that is approved for use in Europe but not the United States?
 
With 5-ALA surgeons can often get a better resection and patients a better outcome than without it. It does have some limitations. When there’s a brain tumour and the blood-brain barrier (which keeps nasty things out of our brain) is disrupted, the 5-ALA will get in there and light up that area. The challenge is that sometimes there are parts of the tumour where the blood-brain barrier is not interrupted, it’s intact, and so those don’t light up with 5-ALA. We set out to find a molecule that crosses the blood-brain barrier so it could light up tumours either way, whether the blood-brain barrier is intact or not, and where the drug actually binds to each cancer cell and goes inside the cancer cell and makes them glow so that surgeons can see cell by cell. We hope it will be much more accurate.

What drives your work?
 
Each week when I go to clinic, I ask myself: “What are we going to do today that I don’t want to be doing in 20 years, and how can my lab play a role in changing that?”

Why did you decide to go into paediatric oncology?
 
I took care of a little girl who passed away. Her parents told me that my words with them made her death as beautiful as her birth and that through the conversations we’d had, they’d learned that a life could be seven years long or 70 years long and what mattered was the beauty of what occurred during that time. I thought I had something to offer when the medicine didn’t go the way you wanted it to.

There are many photographs of children you have cared for in your office. How do you cope with the emotional side of your work?
 
I realised early on that I was going to suffer and be in pain when these kids passed away or weren’t doing well whether I chose to compartmentalise it or not. I decided to go all in and fully love each kid and each family and to become part of that family the day we meet. You can take extraordinary ups and downs when you are part of a family. I stay close to many of them.

Do you have children?
 
I’ve got two daughters, 21 and 17. They are both wonderful writers, activists and feminists. My older daughter is head of the animal rights group at the University of Washington so you’d think there’d be a big clash, but she did a TEDx talk last year and she wove our work together. My team tries to minimise the use of animals and importantly we’re very open to using alternatives when the alternatives are useful and accessible. Her point is that similar investments should be put into finding alternatives to animal testing as to continuing the status quo. We have very good and respectful conversations.

Is it frustrating that it takes so long to bring a new drug to market?
 
Well, it is – take tumour paint as an example. My own mother had a cancer that would definitely have benefited from it and it was too early to use it. It started in the skin on her face and went back into her brain. It ended up spreading extensively and that could have been avoided if it had been understood that they hadn’t got it all and had gone a little bit deeper. She’s doing fine now, two years later. I love my patients in the same way, so every week when we have kids, and we can’t use it yet… These things just take time though. The reality is that if things move forward too fast you can have really serious safety problems. I don’t get frustrated because frustration doesn’t help you move forward.

How do you fund your research?
 
Most innovative ideas are really hard to get approved through peer review [and therefore funded by grants] … so the families stepped up by doing chilli cook-offs, golf tournaments and auctions and they’ve raised over $10m since the late 90s. In 2013 we launched Project Violet. We’re well past $5m with that.

Tell me about Project Violet.
 
We decided to build a platform where we could identify other similar molecules [to the tumour paint molecule] that plants and animals use for protection in nature, and find a way to create hundreds of thousands of variations of these that could be used for screening for human diseases. I realised that to do this we were going to need to build a team of experts. We launched Project Violet so we could use social media and the public domain to co-operatively build these libraries of drug candidates. I launched that in my TEDx talk in June 2013 and since then we’ve been able to support, or partially support, 33 scientists. For a year around that, volunteers from Amazon here in Seattle helped us build our website and our social media presence.

Violet was a little girl who had a type of brain tumour that I’ve not yet had a child survive. She knew she was going to die. She decided to donate her tissue when she died to help other children. Also, some of these molecules we’re working on come from the violet plant.

Any other research successes?
 
One day, I realised I was prescribing medicines with no idea whether the cancer would be resistant to that drug. So, I hired two bioengineers and we created a technology where needles are exerted through the skin into a tumour and as the needles are withdrawn they leave behind tracks of different drugs. You let those drugs be present around the tumour cells a day or so, then take out the tumour and cut across-wise to the needles and see which ones work and which don’t. If a drug doesn’t kill any cancer cells when they are bathed in it, it certainly isn’t going to get any better when you give that drug as an IV or by mouth. I think this is going to revolutionise cancer and drug development.

Source from : http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/01/scorpions-cancer-jim-olson-tumour-paint-deathstalker-brain-tumours

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New Treatment to Target Mutated Cancer Cells

London:  Oxford researchers have found the 'Achilles heel' of certain cancer cells - mutations in a gene which could be targeted with a new drug to kill cancer cells that are resistant to treatment.

It is well known that mutations drive cancer cell growth and resistance to treatment. However, these mutations can also become a weak point for a tumour.

The researchers from University of Oxford in UK found that was the case for cancer cells with mutations in a key cancer gene called SETD2.

"Mutations in SETD2 are frequently found in kidney cancer and some childhood brain tumours, so we were excited when we discovered that a new drug we were studying specifically killed cancer cells with this mutation," said study author Timothy Humphrey from Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.

Researchers showed that cancer cells with a mutated SETD2 gene were killed by a drug called AZD1775 that inhibits a protein called WEE1.

The team achieved this by exploiting the concept of 'synthetic lethality', where a combination of two factors kills a cancer cell.

This has the potential to be a less toxic and more effective treatment than more standard approaches because it can specifically target cancer cells.

"When WEE1 was inhibited in cells with a SETD2 mutation, the levels of deoxynucleotides, the components that make DNA, dropped below the critical level needed for replication," said co-author Andy Ryan, from University of Oxford.

"Starved of these building blocks, the cells die. Importantly, normal cells in the body do not have SETD2 mutations, so these effects of WEE1 inhibition are potentially very selective to cancer cells," Mr Ryan said.

The research team have also developed a biomarker test to identify SETD2 mutated tumours, something that can be used immediately in cancer diagnosis.

"This novel and exciting finding provides a new scientific basis for precision targeting of some cancers which are currently very difficult to treat, and we are now taking these findings into clinical trials," said Tim Maughan, Clinical Director of the Cancer Research UK/ Medical Research Council Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology.

While there is still work to do before a treatment is available, the hope is that these findings will help to target other cancers with similar weak points and provide a step towards personalised cancer therapy, researchers said. 
Source from : http://www.ndtv.com/health/new-treatment-to-target-mutated-cancer-cells-1239128

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‘I’m cancer-free thanks to early detection’

Sandra Lee Photo: FilmMagic

Far from a gold standard, the new American Cancer Society guidelines for breast-cancer care are a cold standard for women.

Last week, the ACS ended its decades-long advisory for women to receive annual mammograms, beginning at age 40. The age is now pushed back to 45, with the recommendation for women over 55 — those with the highest death rates from breast cancer — to only have screenings every other year.

More than 40,000 women in America will die of breast cancer this year, according to the ACS. Which makes its new, relaxed screening guidelines all the more perplexing — and dangerous.

I’m concerned by this seismic shift in women’s health because I’m one of the ACS’s estimated 294,130 women who received a breast cancer diagnosis this year.

And I’m most worried for the women who’ll be hurt most by this: young women, poor women, women of color, women with limited education and women whose access to health care and the means to pay for it are terribly restricted. The American Cancer Society also reported that women from poor areas have the highest rates of death from breast cancer.

Breast cancer remains a leading cause of death in women under 40, taking 12,000 such lives a year. It has an especially savage impact on minority women, particularly in African-American women whose cancer rates at age 35 are double those of white women, with triple the mortality rate.

Only lung cancer kills more African-American and white women than breast cancer. And for Hispanic women, breast cancer is the No. 1 killer.

You may write off my alarm in the assumption that my double mastectomy gives me a warped view of the threat of breast cancer. But the simple fact remains: Screening, wheth­er high-definition ultrasound or mammogram, saves lives.

Each and every doctor I met with, at the most respected hospitals and cancer treatment centers in New York, said that women being diagnosed in their 20s and 30s is no longer an anomaly, but an epidemic. This was also overwhelmingly clear when women flooded my Facebook and other social-media platforms with stories of early detection that saved their lives, years — even decades — before age 45.

So, how, in good conscience, can anyone be expected to look at a daughter, a niece, a sister or a friend and tell them to take their chances until they are 45? Not me — not my family. These new guidelines will almost surely cost some women their lives.

Poring over the rationale to push back testing five years and cut mammograms in half, I’m reminded of economics classes in college filled with marginal efficiency of capital and marginal productivity of labor theories. But this isn’t theoretical economics. This is the survival of women — women who shouldn’t be penalized because they don’t have the premium health care, or they live in rural areas without state-of-the-art testing facilities or high-definition ultrasound detectors.

How can we seemingly write these women off? The American Cancer Society has also reported that women from poor areas have the highest rates of death from breast cancer. Do we write them off too? Who else?

And the myth prevails for women of all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds that if breast cancer doesn’t hang on your family tree, chances are you don’t need to worry, either. But the American Cancer Society reported just eight weeks ago that 85 percent of breast cancers occur in women like me, with no family history. Why those diagnoses are growing without a hereditary component, no one can answer.

But here’s what I do know: I’m cancer-free — thanks to early detection in a routine annual mammogram, at age 48. Breast-cancer death rates in women have been on the decline since 1989, and the biggest decrease has been in women under 50 — a testament to treatment advances and early detection.

It’s tremendous progress, but it’s not enough — though you wouldn’t know that from listening to the American Cancer Society.

We may never be able to eliminate breast cancer. But we must make every effort to protect women by giving them the information and the medical resources they need for early detection.

Sandra Lee is a philanthropist, author, TV personality and editor-in-chief of Sandra Lee Magazine and sandralee.com.
source from : http://nypost.com/2015/11/01/im-cancer-free-because-of-early-detection/

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The neatest scientific advance in skin cancer treatment

Hedgehog pathway inhibitors exciting development in treating non-melanoma skin cancer

 In the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer, “the fastest-moving area—and the neatest from a science standpoint—is the class of drugs called hedgehog pathway inhibitors.”

That’s the message Scott Dinehart, M.D., delivered in his presentation, “Medical Advances in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer,” yesterday (Thursday, Oct. 1), the opening day of the Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference in Las Vegas.

Dr. Dinehart, a Little Rock, Ark., dermatologist, says hedgehog pathway inhibitors are approved for certain patients with basal cell carcinoma.

“The average dermatology practitioner will not use these molecules on a daily basis, however, the medications are very useful for a small subset of patients for which other treatments are not optimal,” he says. “Using this class of medications requires knowledge and experience and can be extremely satisfying from both a practitioner and a patient viewpoint.”

According to Dr. Dinehart, some common medications with which dermatologists are already familiar and comfortable are hedgehog pathway inhibitors—the anti-fungal drug itraconazole and imiquimod are examples. What excites him are advances in putting this class of drugs to work.

“There are new ways to use hedgehog pathway inhibitors—continuously, intermittently, shrinking a tumor prior to surgery, in combination—so that the hedgehog pathway is blocked in more than one part of the pathway,” he says.

Dr. Dinehart believes more such advances are in store for these drugs.

“We will continue to see more innovative ways to use hedgehog pathway inhibitors in skin cancer patients,” he says. “Combination or dual therapy with multiple hedgehog pathway inhibitors is something that may increase efficacy and diminish resistance. We will see more research on this in the future.”

Source from : http://dermatologytimes.modernmedicine.com/dermatology-times/news/neatest-scientific-advance-skin-cancer-treatment

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New technology means improved cervical cancer care for Manitoba women

                  Women in Manitoba are benefiting from technology introduced last fall for cervical cancer screening. This announcement was made by Health Minister Sharon Blady.
“This innovative technology provides more accurate results the first time around, meaning fewer women need to go back for uncomfortable procedures,” said Minister Blady. “Our investments in this state-of-the-art health-care technology are leading to faster turnaround time in the labs, meaning women are getting their results more quickly.”
Diagnostic Services Manitoba (DSM), the organization responsible for Manitoba’s public laboratory and rural diagnostic imaging services, implemented liquid-based cytology technology in October 2014. DSM also began using liquid-based cytology for some non-gynecological cancer screenings in April 2015.
Jim Slater, chief executive officer of DSM, said women may not have noticed the new technology, but it has improved the quality of samples being sent for microscopic examination.
“Before the introduction of liquid-based cytology, we would have had to collect a second sample nearly six per cent of the time,” said Slater. “Now, that number is less than one per cent because the majority of the samples have been collected using liquid-based cytology. That’s clearly better for women.”
More than 132,000 cervical cancer tests are processed in Manitoba every year. The minister noted this means hundreds of women per year may not need to return to their doctors for retesting because of the improvements to reduce problem samples.
“This new testing process reduces the number of visits to family doctors, freeing their time to see other patients,” said Minister Blady. “It also reduces health-care costs, as fewer samples have to be retested.”
About 40 per cent of cervical cancer tests are provided by DSM, with the remainder processed by community lab partners Dynacare and Unicity. The minister noted that in working collaboratively with the CervixCheck program at CancerCare Manitoba, DSM undertakes regular quality assurance reviews to ensure Manitoba women can have confidence in the quality of their care and the accuracy of their test results.
Regular screening can prevent up to 80 per cent of cervical cancers by identifying and treating pre-cancerous changes. The success of the pap test has been well demonstrated in Manitoba by the relatively low number of women who are diagnosed each year, the minister said.
“It’s significant that 60 per cent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer have not had a pap test in five years or more,” said Dr. Sri Navaratnam, president and chief executive officer, CancerCare Manitoba. “Detecting cancer at an early stage may result in simpler treatment and a better outcome. That is why I urge women of all ages to get screened every three years.”
The minister noted that liquid-based cytology builds on the province’s commitment to shorten the cancer patient journey. The $40-million IN SIXTY initiative strives to expedite cancer testing and treatment for patients when cancer is first suspected to help get patients the most appropriate care as quickly as possible.
source from : http://www.mysteinbach.ca/newsblog/29937.html

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Top 10 Foods That Increase Cancer Risk

                 Nearly 1.5 million new cases of cancer were expected to be diagnosed last year–while 559,650 people were expected to die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. That’s more than 1,500 people a day–such a startling statistic. In the book Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic (New Society Publishers, 2007) the authors write that the Number 4 solution is to “Eat a Healthy Diet.” Listed within are the 10 Foods and Drinks to Limit or Eliminate:

1. All charred food, which create heterocyclic aromatic amines, known carcinogens. Even dark toast is suspect.

2. Well-done red meat. Medium or rare is better, little or no red meat is best.

3. Sugar, both white and brown–which is simply white sugar with molasses added.

4. Heavily salted, smoked and pickled foods, which lead to higher rates of stomach cancer.

5. Sodas/soft drinks, which pose health risks, both for what they contain–sugar and various additives–and for what they replace in the diet–beverages and foods that provide vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

6. French fries, chips and snack foods that contain trans fats.

7. Food and drink additives such as aspartame.

8. Excess alcohol.

9. Baked goods, for the acrylamide.

10. Farmed fish, which contains higher levels of toxins such as PCBs.

Now that you know what not to eat, see the Top 10 Foods and Drinks for Cancer Prevention.

Source from : http://www.care2.com/greenliving/top-10-foods-that-increase-cancer-risk.html

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Cancer prevention: 7 tips to reduce your risk

                   You've probably heard conflicting reports about cancer prevention. Sometimes the specific cancer-prevention tip recommended in one study or news report is advised against in another.

In many cases, what is known about cancer prevention is still evolving. However, it's well accepted that your chances of developing cancer are affected by the lifestyle choices you make.

So if you're concerned about cancer prevention, take comfort in the fact that some simple lifestyle changes can make a big difference. Consider these seven cancer prevention tips.

1. Don't use tobacco

Using any type of tobacco puts you on a collision course with cancer. Smoking has been linked to various types of cancer — including cancer of the lung, bladder, cervix and kidney. And chewing tobacco has been linked to cancer of the oral cavity and pancreas. Even if you don't use tobacco, exposure to secondhand smoke might increase your risk of lung cancer.

Avoiding tobacco — or deciding to stop using it — is one of the most important health decisions you can make. It's also an important part of cancer prevention. If you need help quitting tobacco, ask your doctor about stop-smoking products and other strategies for quitting.

2. Eat a healthy diet

Although making healthy selections at the grocery store and at mealtime can't guarantee cancer prevention, it might help reduce your risk. Consider these guidelines:

    Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Base your diet on fruits, vegetables and other foods from plant sources — such as whole grains and beans.
    Limit fat. Eat lighter and leaner by choosing fewer high-fat foods, particularly those from animal sources. High-fat diets tend to be higher in calories and might increase the risk of overweight or obesity — which can, in turn, increase cancer risk.
    If you choose to drink alcohol, do so only in moderation. The risk of various types of cancer — including cancer of the breast, colon, lung, kidney and liver — increases with the amount of alcohol you drink and the length of time you've been drinking regularly.

3. Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active

Maintaining a healthy weight might lower the risk of various types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, prostate, lung, colon and kidney.

Physical activity counts, too. In addition to helping you control your weight, physical activity on its own might lower the risk of breast cancer and colon cancer.

Adults who participate in any amount of physical activity gain some health benefits. But for substantial health benefits, strive to get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic physical activity. You can also do a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. As a general goal, include at least 30 minutes of physical activity in your daily routine — and if you can do more, even better.

4. Protect yourself from the sun

Skin cancer is one of the most common kinds of cancer — and one of the most preventable. Try these tips:

    Avoid midday sun. Stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the sun's rays are strongest.
    Stay in the shade. When you're outdoors, stay in the shade as much as possible. Sunglasses and a broad-rimmed hat help, too.
    Cover exposed areas. Wear tightly woven, loosefitting clothing that covers as much of your skin as possible. Opt for bright or dark colors, which reflect more ultraviolet radiation than pastels or bleached cotton.
    Don't skimp on sunscreen. Use generous amounts of sunscreen when you're outdoors, and reapply often.
    Avoid tanning beds and sunlamps. These are just as damaging as natural sunlight.

5. Get immunized

Cancer prevention includes protection from certain viral infections. Talk to your doctor about immunization against:

    Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B can increase the risk of developing liver cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for certain high-risk adults — such as adults who are sexually active but not in a mutually monogamous relationship, people with sexually transmitted infections, intravenous drug users, men who have sex with men, and health care or public safety workers who might be exposed to infected blood or body fluids.
    Human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cervical and other genital cancers as well as squamous cell cancers of the head and neck. The HPV vaccine is available to both men and women age 26 or younger who didn't have the vaccine as adolescents.

6. Avoid risky behaviors

Another effective cancer prevention tactic is to avoid risky behaviors that can lead to infections that, in turn, might increase the risk of cancer. For example:

    Practice safe sex. Limit your number of sexual partners, and use a condom when you have sex. The more sexual partners you have in your lifetime, the more likely you are to contract a sexually transmitted infection — such as HIV or HPV. People who have HIV or AIDS have a higher risk of cancer of the anus, liver and lung. HPV is most often associated with cervical cancer, but it might also increase the risk of cancer of the anus, penis, throat, vulva and vagina.
    Don't share needles. Sharing needles with an infected drug user can lead to HIV, as well as hepatitis B and hepatitis C — which can increase the risk of liver cancer. If you're concerned about drug abuse or addiction, seek professional help.

7. Get regular medical care

Regular self-exams and screenings for various types of cancers — such as cancer of the skin, colon, prostate, cervix and breast — can increase your chances of discovering cancer early, when treatment is most likely to be successful. Ask your doctor about the best cancer screening schedule for you.

Take cancer prevention into your own hands, starting today. The rewards will last a lifetime. 

source from :www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/cancer-prevention/art-20044816 

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Here Is How This 70-Year-Old Man Naturally Cured His Late Stage Colon Cancer

Colon cancer may be more prevalent in the population than you realise.

Did you know that it’s the third most common cancer for both men and women and the second most likely cancer to cause death in the USA? Half of the patients that are diagnosed with colon cancer officially die from cancer, and the other 30% are unaccounted for.

In 2011, the death toll for colon cancer reached 70%. Some of the methods for curing patients with colon cancer include surgery, which usually involves the removal of the colon and leaves patients wearing an external colostomy bag for the rest of their lives. Others may be treated with chemotherapy, which can be hit and miss in its outcome and cause patients greater discomfort and symptoms than before the treatment.

However, while these mainstream medicine treatments are more wildly accepted as helping and can work for some patients, other natural cancer clinic and practitioners have been discovering natural remedies and therapies for cancer. And Chris Wark was one of them. His website “Chris Beat Cancer” explains how he managed to beat cancer using only natural treatments and remedies.

He rejected traditional chemotherapy after feeling the treatment was only putting more poison into his body and couldn’t accept that this would cure his condition. After speaking to a naturopathic doctor, Chris began a curative natural diet and beat his cancer.



Another case is John Tanzi, who a few days before his 70th birthday was suffering from a much later stage of colon cancer, stage IV in fact.
He had been given just two to six months to live if he chose not to undertake the chemotherapy he was being offered. He decided not to undergo the traditional treatment after having seen other sufferers see out their last days in pain while on chemotherapy, reducing their quality of life significantly. He instead decided to research other options, how could he live out his final months feeling better rather than much worse?

And it worked. After consulting a natural doctor, he was instructed to change his diet to exclude all meats, refined sugar and dairy. This is known as the “Cancer Diet”. Next, after he began to feel better, he found a capsuled gel form of the original four-herb Essiac tea (please be aware that not all of these gels sold online are legitimate, ensure you check reviews and reports before purchasing). He combined the tea gel capsules with beta-1,3-glucan gel caps (take one for every 50 pounds of weight) and took them daily as instructed.

Beta glucans have been reported to work as an immuno-adjuvant therapy for cancer, mostly in Japan, and can naturally be found in shiitake mushrooms in the form of lentinan. Lentinan is an anti-cancer superfood that is believed to reduce tumor activity and lessen the symptoms of cancer.

This is just one example of a natural remedy and treatment program that worked for one cancer patient. However, John recommends that everyone should choose their own holistic and natural remedies according to their experience and health. After recovering from colon cancer John set up a Facebook page called “Holistic Cancer and Health Chat Room”, where members and guests can ask John questions and other cancer patients questions about natural remedies they have tried. The page also directs patients to reliable websites that sell natural remedies.

Source from : http://www.lifeadvancer.com/old-man-naturally-cured-colon-cancer

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The Top 10 Anti-Cancer Vegetables

                                       If you haven’t noticed, we are constantly bombarded with pleas from charities for cancer research money.

“Race for the Cure, Stand Up to Cancer, Buy Pink products, grow a Movember

Photo by David Grunfeld

mustache….”

This is often accompanied by the message  that “we are running out of funding for cancer research”.  And of course this is a problem, because “without funding for more research, we will never find a cure”.

Cue the shots of bald women and children poisoned by chemo, accompanied by dramatic music. Then insert a high-profile celebrity to say, “The cure is just around the corner.
Together we can make cancer history. Please give today.”

Here’s the reality. The mega billion dollar pharmaceutical industry has plenty of money to fund research, they would just prefer that you fund it with your donations instead of theirs.

Real problem #1  They are running out of your money.

Real problem #2 They are only interested in medicines they can patent.

Real problem #3  Research on nutrition and natural therapies is ignored.

There are literally thousands of published peer-reviewed studies demonstrating that the 100,000+ phytonutrients in plants have the ability to prevent and reverse cancer.
But because the pharmaceutical industry can’t figure out how to extract these compounds, synthesize them, and patent them for profit, they are ignored.

Doctors can’t even use this published information or they risk losing their license.

But you can!

One of my favorite studies was published in Food Chemistry, January 2009 called,
“The antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of common vegetables: A comparative study”

The title is so boring I almost fell asleep typing it, but hold on, because the results are awesome.

Researchers studied the inhibitory (cancer-stopping) effects of 34 vegetable extracts
on 8 different tumor cell lines.

They basically just ran vegetables through a juicer and then dripped the extracted juice on different cancer cells to see what would happen. Here’s what they found…

The #1 most powerful anti-cancer food was Garlic.

Garlic stopped cancer growth COMPLETELY against these tumor cell lines:

Breast cancer, brain cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer,
childhood brain cancer, and stomach cancer.

Leeks were #1 against kidney cancer. Garlic was #2.

But not just garlic and leeks, almost all vegetables from the Allium and Cruciferous families completely stopped growth in the various cancers tested. Here they are:

Allium vegetables: Garlic, Leeks, Yellow and Green Onions

Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Kale, Red cabbage and Curly Cabbage

Spinach and Beet Root also scored in the top ten against many of the cancers tested.

Honorable mentions: Asparagus, fiddlehead, green beans, radishes and rutabaga.

Poor Performers: Acorn Squash, Bok Choy, Boston Lettuce, Carrot, Endive, English Cucumber, Fennel Bulb, Jalapeño, Orange Sweet Pepper, Potato, Radicchio, Romaine lettuce, and Tomatoes.

Here is an excerpt from the paper’s abstract:

“The extracts from cruciferous vegetables as well as those from vegetables of the genus Allium inhibited the proliferation of all tested cancer cell lines whereas extracts from vegetables most commonly consumed in Western countries were much less effective. The antiproliferative effect of vegetables was specific to cells of cancerous origin and was found to be largely independent of their antioxidant properties. These results thus indicate that vegetables have very different inhibitory activities towards cancer cells and that the inclusion of cruciferous and Allium vegetables in the diet is essential for effective dietary-based chemopreventive strategies.”

Translation:

-Allium and cruciferous veggies stopped cancer growth.
-Commonly consumed vegetables did not work as well.
-The antioxidant content of veggies was not a key anti-cancer factor.
-Different vegetables work for different cancers.
-Allium and cruciferous veggies should be eaten to prevent cancer.

So the most commonly consumed vegetables in Western countries had very little effect on cancer cell growth. The top three (potatoes, lettuce and carrots) account for 60% of the vegetables we Westerners are eating. 32% of our vegetable intake is potatoes, and half of that is actually french fries. Nice.

Dark greens, cruciferous veggies and garlic account for less than 1% of our Western diet!
Hello?

An interesting note:
            Radishes were shown to stop tumor growth by 95-100% for breast and stomach cancer, but had no effect and may have even increased tumor growth by 20-25% in pancreatic, brain, lung and kidney cancer. Definitely something to keep in mind.

You really need to look at the charts in the study to see which veggies worked best against which cancer.

Before you write off the “poor performers”

         It’s important to keep in mind that this is a laboratory study showing only what a vegetable extract did to when applied directly to cancer cells. The study does not take into account the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that indirectly support your body’s ability to detoxify and heal. For example, carrots are a great source of Vitamin A. Vitamin A supports your liver. Your liver is a critical component of your immune system because it detoxes your body. Cancer is a product of a toxic body, so detoxing your body is critical in healing cancer, and so on.

Having said all that, it makes sense to focus on eating tons of the veggies that were actually killing cancer in the lab.

Also this study confirms why what I did in 2004 worked.

I ate copious amounts of these cancer-fighting vegetables every day in my Giant Cancer-Fighting Salad, specifically spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, red cabbage, and garlic powder. I had no idea about leeks or else they would have been in there too.

And according to Dr. Richard Schulze’s recommendation, I ate several cloves of garlic per day. If garlic kills cancer, then I wanted to saturate my body with garlic. So I would just crush up the cloves and swallow them with a mouthful of water.
sources from : http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/top-10-anti-cancer-vegetables/

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New breast cancer guidelines: screen later, less often

                  

The venerated cancer organization says women should start getting mammograms at 45 instead of 40, and that everyone can skip the routine manual breast checks by doctors.

An exhaustive review of the medical literature shows these measures just aren't very effective, according to the group. "The chance that you're going to find a cancer and save a life is actually very small," said Dr. Otis Brawley, the society's chief medical officer.

Now three key groups -- the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Cancer Society, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force -- recommend different ages for starting regular mammograms: 40, 45 and 50 respectively.

While mammograms save lives, they can also cause harm, and each group does a different job of balancing the pros and cons.
In a move sure to befuddle women -- and anger some breast cancer survivors -- the American Cancer Society has issued new guidelines saying less screening for breast cancer is better than more.

Earlier testing is not necessarily better

        The problem with mammograms is that they have a relatively high false positive rate, which means women sometimes have to undergo painful and time-consuming tests only to find out they never had cancer in the first place.

The chances of false positives are especially high for women under 45, as they have denser breasts and tumors are harder to spot on an image. "If she starts screening at age 40, she increases the risk that she'll need a breast cancer biopsy that turns out with the doctor saying 'You don't have cancer, so sorry we put you through all this,'" Brawley said.

He said he knows women who've had false positives year after year. "False positives are a huge deal," he said. "These women are so frightened and inconvenienced they swear off mammography for the rest of their lives."

Six years ago, the federal government's Preventive Services Task Force caused a furor when it declared that women in their 40s didn't need to get routine mammograms. Younger women whose breast cancers were caught by mammograms angrily responded that they would have been dead if they'd followed that guideline.

They said they'd gladly risk a false positive, with all the inconvenient and sometimes painful followup, for the chance of finding a cancer.

Learning from that experience, the American Cancer Society has sought to soften its message, emphasizing that women in their early 40s should still be able to get mammograms if they want them, as long as they understand the risks.

There's the risk of a false positive, plus the risk that a mammogram could catch a very small breast cancer that will go away on its own, or never progress to the point that it hurts a woman. In other words, a mammogram could catch a tumor that isn't really worth catching.

But since doctors can't reliably discern the harmful from the harmless cancers, they treat them all. This means some women are getting potentially harmful treatments, such as radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, when their tumor would never have caused a problem, Brawley says.

A Canadian study looked at 44,925 women who were screened for breast cancer, and 106 of them fell into this category and were treated for breast cancer "unnecessarily," according to a review in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New guidelines have their critics

    While agreeing with the American Cancer Society that mammograms aren't perfect, some advocates for women criticized the group's new guidelines. First, they said the society looked mostly at studies of film mammography, which in the United States has almost been entirely replaced by digital mammography.

Digital mammograms generate clearer images and do a better job of finding cancer and have a lower false positive rate.

"It's like standard versus HD TV," said Dr. Therese Bevers, the chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's guidelines panel for breast cancer screening and diagnosis, and the medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Second, critics said the cancer society looked only at whether screening saved a woman's life, and not at whether screening caught a cancer early, so the woman could avoid the most drastic treatments, such as chemotherapy or mastectomy.

"The American Cancer Society made the value judgment that screening is only worth it if improves survival," said Dr. Marisa Weiss, a breast cancer survivor and president of Breastcancer.org. "There's an arrogance to that. Let women decide what's meaningful to them."

Insurance companies also decide

     The new guidelines also state that women over age 55 can choose to get a mammogram every other year, since breast cancers in post-menopausal women tend to develop more slowly.

To a great extent it will be insurance companies that decide at what age women get mammograms. In 2009, they typically continued to pay for mammograms starting at age 40 even though the government's task for force recommended mammograms starting at age 50.

But it's not clear what they'll do now that the American Cancer Society has also raised the age for mammograms.

"(Insurance) plans will certainly take these updated recommendations into account when evaluating their coverage policies," Clare Krusing, a spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, wrote to CNN in an email.

The new guidelines are meant for women at average risk of breast cancer. The society says women with a family history or who carry a gene that predisposes them to breast cancer may need to start screening earlier and more frequently.

As for the recommendation to discontinue routine manual breast exams by doctors, many advocates for women with breast cancer agree there's a lack of good evidence that they save lives, but some said they saw no reason to get rid of them.

"It's a free and added way of knowing whether or not a lump is there," said Leigh Hurst, founder of the Feel Your Boobies Foundation.

In the end, with so many different opinions on preventing breast cancer, experts are worried women will throw up their hands.

"Our biggest concern is that this will create a lot of potential havoc in the day-to-day practice of caring for women," said Dr. Christopher Zahn, the vice president of practice activities for ACOG.


Source from : http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/20/health/new-acs-breast-cancer-screening-guidelines/

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What are the different types of cancer treatment?

            If someone you know is being treated for cancer, you may want to learn more about what they’re going through. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are the most common types of cancer treatment.

Surgery is often the first treatment option if the tumor can be taken out of the body. Sometimes only part of the tumor can be removed. Radiation, chemotherapy, or both might be used to shrink the tumor before or after surgery. For more on this, please see our document called A Guide to Cancer Surgery.

Doctors use chemotherapy (or “chemo”) to kill cancer cells. The term chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Usually, the drugs are given into a vein (or IV) or they’re taken by mouth. Chemo drugs then travel through the body in the bloodstream, reaching cancer cells that may have spread (metastasized) from the tumor to other places in the body.

Radiation therapy uses high energy rays (like x-rays) to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. The radiation may come from outside the body (external radiation) or from radioactive materials put right into the tumor (internal or implant radiation). Getting external radiation is much like getting an x-ray. The radiation itself is painless, but tissue damage may cause side effects. .

Other kinds of treatment you might hear about include hormone therapy, stem cell or bone marrow transplant, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. Hormone therapy is sometimes used to treat certain kinds of prostate and breast cancers. Immunotherapy is treatment designed to boost the cancer patient’s own immune system to help fight the cancer. Targeted therapy is treatment that targets the cancer cells and causes less damage to healthy cells. Please call us or visit our website if you would like to learn more about these types of cancer treatment.

You might know someone else being treated for the same type of cancer, but don’t assume that any two people will respond to treatment the same way. Each cancer is different, and each person’s response to treatment is unique. It’s best not to compare one person to another.

What are the side effects of cancer treatment?

        The type of treatment a person gets depends on the cancer type and stage (how far the cancer has spread), the age of the patient, and other medical problems and treatments the person has had. Each drug or treatment plan has different side effects. It’s hard to predict what side effects will occur, even when patients get the same treatment. Some effects can be bad and others fairly mild. Some people have a tough time with cancer treatment, but there are also many who manage quite well and are even able to work throughout treatment.

Chemotherapy side effects

         Short-term (and often treatable) side effects of chemo can include nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, hair loss, and mouth sores. Because chemo can damage the blood-producing cells of the bone marrow, patients may have low blood cell counts. Low blood counts can cause certain side effects, such as:

    -Higher risk of infection (from a shortage of white blood cells)
    -Serious bleeding or bruising after cuts or injuries (from a shortage of blood platelets)
    -Extreme tiredness or fatigue (sometimes from low red blood cell counts)

Cancer care teams carefully watch for and manage chemo side effects.

Because everyone’s body is different, people notice different effects from chemo. Most chemo side effects go away after treatment ends. For instance, hair lost during treatment nearly always grows back after treatment. In the meantime, most patients are able to use wigs, scarves, or hats to cover, warm, or protect their heads.

Radiation therapy side effects

        Radiation treatments are much like x-rays and are not painful. The most common side effects are skin irritation and severe tiredness (fatigue). Fatigue is especially common when treatments go on for several weeks. It’s a feeling of extreme tiredness and low energy, which often does not get better with rest. People also report fatigue caused by the daily trips to the hospital to get their radiation treatments.

Many people are able to keep up their normal activities throughout the course radiation treatments, though it’s common for them to adjust their schedules or need more rest until they feel better.

Is cancer treatment worse than cancer?

         This is a common myth that can shorten lives. People who believe that cancer treatment is worse than cancer itself might not follow through with treatments that can prolong life or even cure their cancer.

It’s easy to understand the source of this myth. Often people diagnosed with cancer have never had any symptoms or pain. For others, the symptoms have just started and are not too bad yet. But once the treatment starts, they often begin to feel pretty sick. It’s true that chemo, radiation, and surgery can cause distressing and sometimes serious side effects. But most of them can be treated and will go away after treatment ends, and cancer treatment can be life-saving. If cancer is not treated at all, symptoms tend to become worse and worse.

There are times when every cancer patient questions their commitment to the difficult journey of treatment and its side effects. Sometimes they can get discouraged by the uncertainty of treatment and wonder if it’s worth it. This is normal. It may help to remember that every year cancer treatments get more and more effective, and doctors keep learning better ways to control treatment side effects.
Source from :http://www.cancer.org/treatment/understandingyourdiagnosis/talkingaboutcancer/whensomeoneyouknowhascancer/when-somebody-you-know-has-cancer-cancer-treatment-questions

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What`s new in breast cancer research and treatment?

What`s new in breast cancer research and treatment?

     Research into the causes, prevention, and treatment of breast cancer is being done in many medical centers throughout the world.

Causes of breast cancer

Studies continue to uncover lifestyle factors and habits that alter breast cancer risk. Ongoing studies are looking at the effect of exercise, weight gain or loss, and diet on breast cancer risk.

Studies on the best use of genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations continue at a rapid pace. Scientists are also exploring how common gene variations may affect breast cancer risk. Each gene variant has only a modest effect in risk (10 to 20%), but when taken together they may potentially have a large impact.

Potential causes of breast cancer in the environment have also received more attention in recent years. While much of the science on this topic is still in its earliest stages, this is an area of active research.

A large, long-term study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is now being done to help find the causes of breast cancer. Known as the Sister Study, it has enrolled 50,000 women who have sisters with breast cancer. This study will follow these women for at least 10 years and collect information about genes, lifestyle, and environmental factors that may cause breast cancer. An offshoot of the Sister Study, the Two Sister Study, is designed to look at possible causes of early onset breast cancer. To find out more about these studies, call 1-877-4-SISTER (1-877-474-7837) or visit the Sister Study website (www.sisterstudy.org).

Chemoprevention

           Fenretinide, a retinoid, is also being studied as a way to reduce the risk of breast cancer (retinoids are drugs related to vitamin A). In a small study, this drug reduced breast cancer risk as much as tamoxifen.

Other drugs, such as aromatase inhibitors, are also being studied to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

For more information, see Medicines to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk.

Making decisions about DCIS

         In some women, DCIS turns into invasive breast cancer and sometimes an area of DCIS contains invasive cancer. In some women, though, the cells may never invade and remain localized within the ducts. If the cells don’t invade, DCIS cannot spread to lymph nodes or other organs, and so cannot be life-threatening. The uncertainty about how DCIS will behave makes it difficult for women to make decisions about what treatment to have, if any. Researchers are looking for ways to help with these challenges.

Researchers are studying the use of computers and statistical methods to estimate the odds that a woman’s DCIS will become invasive. Some of these methods are based on routinely available clinical information about the patient and her DCIS, whereas others also include information about changes in her tumor’s genes. Decision aids are another approach. They ask a woman with DCIS questions that help her decide which factors (such as survival, preventing recurrence, and side effects) she considers most important in choosing a treatment.

Another approach is to look at genes expressed by the DCIS cells using a test such as the Oncotype Dx DCIS Score. This test can be used to predict a woman’s chance of DCIS coming back or a new cancer developing in the same breast if she does not get radiation. So far, though, it hasn’t been studied well enough to predict how much someone would benefit from radiation after surgery for DCIS.

Another recent area of research and debate among breast cancer specialists is whether changing the name of DCIS to one that emphasizes this is not an invasive cancer can help some women avoid overly aggressive treatment.

New laboratory tests

Circulating tumor cells

       Researchers have found that in many women with breast cancer, cells may break away from the tumor and enter the blood. These circulating tumor cells can be detected with sensitive lab tests. Although these tests can help predict which patients may go on to have their cancer come back, it isn’t clear that the use of these tests will help patients live longer. They may potentially be useful for women with advanced breast cancer to help tell if treatments are working.

Newer imaging tests

   Newer imaging methods are now being studied for evaluating abnormalities that may be breast cancers.

Scintimammography (molecular breast imaging)

   In scintimammography, a slightly radioactive tracer called technetium sestamibi is injected into a vein. The tracer attaches to breast cancer cells and is detected by a special camera.

This technique is still being studied to see if it will be useful in finding breast cancers. Some radiologists believe it may helpful in looking at suspicious areas found by regular mammograms, but its exact role remains unclear. Current research is aimed at improving the technology and evaluating its use in specific situations such as in the dense breasts of younger women. Some early studies have suggested that it may be almost as accurate as more expensive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. This test, however, will not replace your usual screening mammogram.

Several other imaging methods, including thermal imaging (thermography) are discussed in Mammograms and Other Breast Imaging Procedures.

Treatment

Oncoplastic surgery

      Breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy or partial mastectomy) can often be used for early-stage breast cancers. But in some women, it can result in breasts of different sizes and/or shapes. For larger tumors, it might not even be possible, and a mastectomy might be needed instead. Some doctors address this problem by combining cancer surgery and plastic surgery techniques, known as oncoplastic surgery. This typically involves reshaping the breast at the time of the initial surgery, and may mean operating on the other breast as well to make them more symmetrical. This approach is still fairly new, and not all doctors are comfortable with it.

New chemotherapy drugs

Advanced breast cancers are often hard to treat, so researchers are always looking for newer drugs.

A drug class has been developed that targets cancers caused by BRCA mutations. This class of drugs is called PARP inhibitors and they have shown promise in clinical trials treating breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers that had spread and were resistant to other treatments. Further studies are being done to see if this drug can help patients without BRCA mutations.

Targeted therapies

Targeted therapies are a group of newer drugs that specifically take advantage of gene changes in cells that cause cancer.

Drugs that target HER2: A number of drugs that target HER2 are currently in use, including trastuzumab (Herceptin), pertuzumab (Perjeta), ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla), and lapatinib (Tykerb). Other drugs are being developed and tested.

Anti-angiogenesis drugs: For cancers to grow, blood vessels must develop to nourish the cancer cells. This process is called angiogenesis. Looking at angiogenesis in breast cancer specimens can help predict prognosis. Some studies have found that breast cancers surrounded by many new, small blood vessels are likely to be more aggressive. More research is needed to confirm this.

Bevacizumab (Avastin) is an example of anti-angiogenesis drug. Although bevacizumab turned out to not be very helpful in the treatment of advanced breast cancer, this approach still may prove useful in breast cancer treatment. Several other anti-angiogenesis drugs are being tested in clinical trials.

Other targeted drugs: Everolimus (Afinitor) is a targeted therapy drug that seems to help hormone therapy drugs work better. It is approved to be given with exemestane (Aromasin) to treat advanced hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in post-menopausal women. It has also been studied with other hormone therapy drugs and for treatment of earlier stage breast cancer. In one study, letrozole plus everolimus worked better than letrozole alone in shrinking breast tumors before surgery. It also seemed to help in treating advanced hormone receptor-positive breast cancer when added to tamoxifen. Everolimus is also being studied in combination with chemotherapy and the targeted drug trastuzumab. Other drugs like everolimus are also being studied.

Other potential targets for new breast cancer drugs have been identified in recent years. Drugs based on these targets are now being studied, but most are still in the early stages of clinical trials.

Bisphosphonates

     Bisphosphonates are drugs that are used to help strengthen and reduce the risk of fractures in bones that have been weakened by metastatic breast cancer. Examples include pamidronate (Aredia) and zoledronic acid (Zometa).

Some studies have suggested that zoledronic acid may help other systemic therapies, like hormone treatment and chemo work better. In one study of women being treated with chemo before surgery, tumors in the women getting zoledronic acid with chemo shrank more than those in the women treated with chemo alone.

Other studies have looked at the effect of giving zoledronic acid with other adjuvant treatments (like chemo or hormone therapy). So far, the results have been mixed. Some studies have shown that this approach helped lower the risk of the cancer coming back, but others did not. The results of one study linked the use of these drugs with adjuvant chemo with an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence in younger women. Overall, the data does not support making bisphosphonates part of standard therapy for early-stage breast cancer.

Denosumab

     Denosumab (Xgeva, Prolia) can also be used to help strengthen and reduce the risk of fractures in bones that have been weakened by metastatic breast cancer. It is being studied to see if it can help adjuvant treatments work better.
Vitamin D

A recent study found that women with early-stage breast cancer who were vitamin D deficient were more likely to have their cancer recur in a distant part of the body and had a poorer outlook. More research is needed to confirm this finding. It is not yet clear if taking vitamin D supplements would be helpful. Still, you might want to talk to your doctor about testing your vitamin D level to see if it is in the healthy range.


Source by : http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-new-research

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The only way to completely heal breast cancer

Breast cancer is the number one cancer that kills women. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation have proved that there needs to be a more comprehensive approach to healing this disease. The answer can only be found when one truly understands that breast cancer is not caused by physical factors alone but like all disease, is holistic - meaning it only manifests when the body, mind, emotions and spirit are out of balance. When these four are in harmony, the stage is set for complete healing to occur.

Breast cancer must be looked at from an environmental and emotional perspective. So what makes cancer cells form and become so aggressive? The answer is found in the environment that the cells are raised in. If a person is laden with chemicals and toxins, if they are deficient in key vital nutrients, if they have had physical trauma or even worse, emotional trauma,

German new medicine protocol

Breast cancer is linked to the emotional shocks of worry, fear and separation. These are not small day-to-day worries but major emotional shocks that usually caught the woman off guard. The first kind of breast cancer is of the mammary gland and is triggered by a worry or argument conflict with a spouse, child, mother or over the loss of the home. The second type of breast cancer is of the intraductal gland and is set off by a separation or fear conflict from a spouse, child, mother or home. In life, the physical is just a manifestation of the mental, emotional and spiritual states. What one sees in their body is a product of their thoughts, emotions and beliefs.

So how can you heal breast cancer? By healing your entire life. Start first by learning how to let go of being dependent upon others. People are made to be with one another but to not be codependent upon each other. If worry, separation and fear are the biggest triggers of breast cancer, then you must begin to emotionally condition yourself to be able to live a life without a spouse, child, home or whatever else you are so attached to that will trigger a disease in the body if its lost. Loss does cause a grieving period but then that time should be finished and you should move on to the next chapter of your life. A person who is at peace with themselves is a person who is healthy in many ways.

Physically, the way to heal is to get at least eight hours of sleep a night, preferably with four of those before midnight, and to eat a diet high in raw vegetables and fruits. Next is exercise; to move lymph fluid (where two thirds of the immune strength is found) and to increase oxygen levels in the body. Cancer cannot grow in high oxygen. Last but not least, is to live a life of reflection and meditation. Stilling yourself enough to be able to listen to the truth that is being spoken into the heart.

Breast cancer should not be something to fear but rather a call to go deeper in this journey called life. Instead of emotionally reacting, it should be a call to rise to the challenge that life has presented, a time to reevaluate each area of life and to seek where physical, mental, emotional and spiritual improvements can be made to make life better than it ever was. What appears to be the worst is really meant to become the best.

Sources for this article include:

An increase in cancer stem cell population after primary systemic therapy is a poor prognostic factor in breast cancer. Lee, Kim, Choi, Kang, Chung, Ryu and Park. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 104, 1730-1738.
Exogenous coenzyme Q10 modulates MMP-2 activity in MCF-7 cell line as a breast cancer cellular model. Bahar, Khaghani, Pasalar, Paknejad, Khorramizadeh, Mirmiranpour and Nejad. Nutrition Journal 2010, 9:62
Summary of the New Medicine- Dr. RG Hamer. Amici di Dirk (August 1, 2000)

About the author:
Dr. Keith Nemec is a holistic doctor who has been treating patients for the last 30 years. Dr. Nemec is the director of the Total Health Institute, an alternative and integrative medical facility which offers both inpatient and outpatient services. Total Health Institute is a treatment and teaching facility that has both natural physicians and alternative minded medical doctors working together as a team in Wheaton, Illinois. Thousands of people have restored their health at the Institute over the last 30 years. Dr. Nemec has published three books: "Total Health = Wholeness", "Seven Basic Steps to Total Health", "The Perfect Diet From a Macronutrient Perspective". Dr. Nemec also hosts the radio show "Your Total Health" five days a week in Chicago. For more information about Dr. Nemec and the Total Health Institute visit www.totalhealthinstitute.com
all these factors press the button for normal cells to change into cancer cells.
Source by : http://www.naturalnews.com/036882_breast_cancer_healing_health_transformation.html

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The definition of Cancer

A young woman exhales cigarette smoke in Shanghai, China. The People's Republic of China is both the world's largest producer and largest consumer of tobacco, which has led to an impending cancer epidemic in the most populous country on Earth.

Photograph by Justin Guariglia

       Cancer  is a disease that begins as a renegade human cell over which the body has lost control. In order for the body and its organs to function properly, cell growth needs to be strictly regulated. Cancer cells, however, continue to divide and multiply at their own speed, forming abnormal lumps, or tumors. An estimated 6.7 million people currently die from cancer every year.

Not all cancers are natural-born killers. Some tumors are referred to as benign because they don't spread elsewhere in the body. But cells of malignant tumors do invade other tissues and will continue to spread if left untreated, often leading to secondary cancers.

Cancers can start in almost any body cell, due to damage or defects in genes involved in cell division. Mutations build up over time, which is why people tend to develop cancer later in life. What actually triggers these cell changes remains unclear, but diet, lifestyle, viral infections, exposure to radiation or harmful chemicals, and inherited genes are among factors thought to affect a person's risk of cancer.

Lung cancer is the world's most killing cancer. It claims about 1.2 million victims a year. Most of those victims are smokers, who inhale cancer-causing substances called carcinogens with every puff. Experts say around 90 percent of lung cancer cases are due to tobacco smoking.

Breast cancer now accounts for almost one in four cancers diagnosed in women. Studies suggest the genes you inherit can affect the chances of developing the illness. A woman with an affected mother or sister is about twice as likely to develop breast cancer as a woman with no family history of the disease. Lifestyle may also have an influence, particularly in Western countries where many women are having children later. Women who first give birth after the age of 30 are thought to have a three times greater risk of breast cancer than those who became mothers in their teens.

Geographical Distinctions:

There are also stark geographic differences, with incidence rates varying by as much as thirtyfold between regions. In much of Asia and South and Central America, for example, cervix cancer is the most deadly in females. However, in North America and Europe another kind of gynecological cancer, ovarian cancer, is a more serious threat.

Among males, southern and eastern Africa record the second and third highest rates of oesophageal, or gullet, cancer after China, but western and central regions of Africa have the lowest incidence in the world. Differences in diet may explain this.

Nevertheless, the reasons why many cancers develop remain elusive. Brain cancer, leukemia (blood cancer), and lymphoma (cancer of the lymph glands) are among types that still mystify scientists.

Treatments:

Yet ever more people are surviving diagnosis thanks to earlier detection, better screening, and improved treatments. The three main treatment options are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, involves blasting tumors with high-energy x-rays to shrink them and destroy cancerous cells. Chemotherapy employs cancer-killing drugs.

Even so, future cancer cases are predicted to climb, since the world's population is aging. The proportion of people over age 60 is expected to more than double by 2050, rising from 10 percent to 22 percent. This will add an estimated 4.7 million to the cancer death toll by 2030.



Sources from : http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/cancer-article/

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