Experimental cancer treatment

Experimental cancer treatments are medicaltherapies intended or claimed to treat cancer(see also tumor) by improving on, supplementing or replacing conventional methods (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy).

The entries listed below vary between theoretical therapies to unproven controversial therapies. Many of these treatments are alleged to only help against specific forms of cancer. It is not a list of treatments widely available at hospitals!

Angiostatic-based treatments

Every solid tumor(in contrast to liquid tumors like leukemia) needs to generate blood vesselsto keep it alive once it reaches a certain size. Usually, blood vessels are not built elsewhere in an adult body unless tissue repair is actively in process. The anti-angiogenesis(angiostatic) agent endostatin and related chemicals can suppress the building of blood vessels, preventing the cancer from growing indefinitely. In tests with patients, the tumor became inactive and stayed that way even after the endostatin treatment was finished. The treatment has very few side effects but appears to have very limited selectivity. Other angiostatic agents like thalidomideand natural plant-based substances are being actively investigated.

Bacterial treatments

Chemotherapeuticdrugshave a hard time penetrating tumors to kill them at their core because these cells may lack a good bloodsupply. Researchers have been using anaerobicbacteria, such as Clostridium novyi, to consume the interior of oxygen-poor tumours. These should then die when they come in contact with the tumour's oxygenated sides, meaning they would be harmless to the rest of the body. A major problem has been that bacteria don't consume all parts of the malignant tissue. However combining the therapy with chemotheraputic treatments can help to solve this problem. Another strategy is to use anaerobic bacteria that have been transformed with an enzyme that can convert a non-toxic prodruginto a toxic drug. With the proliferation of the bacteria in the necroticand hypoxicareas of the tumour the enzyme is expressed solely in the tumour. Thus a systemically applied prodrug is metabolised to the toxic drug only in the tumour. This has been demonstrated to be effective with the non pathogenic anaerobe Clostridium sporogenes.

Gene therapy

Introduction of tumor suppressor genesinto rapidly dividing cells has been thought to slow down or arrest tumor growth. Another use of gene therapy is the introduction of enzymesinto these cells that make them susceptible to particular chemotherapy agents; studies with introducing thymidine kinasein gliomas, making them susceptible to aciclovir, are in their experimental stage.

Telomerase therapy

Because most malignant cells rely on the activity of the protein telomerasefor their immortality, it has been proposed that a drug which inactivates telomerase might be effective against a broad spectrum of malignancies. At the same time, most healthy tissues in the body express little if any telomerase, and would function normally in its absence.

A number of research groups have experimented with the use of telomerase inhibitors in animal models, and as of 2005phase I and II human clinical trials are underway.

Thermal therapy

Localized application of heat has been proprosed as a technique for the treatment of malignant tumours. Intense heating will cause denaturationand coagulation of cellularproteins, rapidly killing cells within a tumour.

More prolonged moderate heating to temperatures just a few degrees above normal can cause more subtle changes. A mild heat treatment combined with other stresses can cause cell death by apoptosis. There are many biochemical consequences to the heat shock responsewithin in cell, including slowed cell division and increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation therapy.

There are many techniques by which heat may be delivered. Some of the most common involve the use of focused ultrasound(FUS), microwaveheating, inductionheating, or direct application of heat through the use of heated saline pumped through catheters.

One of the challenges in thermal therapy is delivering the appropriate amount of heat to the correct part of the patient's body. A great deal of current research focuses on precisely positioning heat delivery devices (catheters, microwave and ultrasound applicators, etc.) using ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging. Clinicians also hope to use advanced imaging techniques to monitor heat treatments in real time—heat-induced changes in tissueare sometimes perceptible using these imaging instruments.

Complementary and alternative cancer treatment

See main article: Complementary and alternative medicine

In the year 2000, the American Cancer Societypublished American Cancer Society's Guide to Complementary and Alternative Cancer Methods. There are over 200 substances and therapies in this book, and while there is a varying degree of success with each of the methods, it appears that some of the techniques will work at times, however no technique will work in all situations, which, practitioners claim, is similar to the success rate of conventional techniques. Many of these treatements are similar to ancient ways of dealing with disease. According to practitioners of such techniques, various options are available to anyone who wants this information, however, they caution that discretion is advised no matter what methods a person chooses to pursue.

Controversial therapies

Diet therapy

In late 1940-s, German-born physician Dr. Max Gersonproposed a therapy that is claimed to be successful in the treatment of advanced cancer, normalizing metabolism and helping the body's immune systemact on cancer cells. It is a high potassium, low sodium (saltless) diet, with no fats or oils, and high in fresh raw fruits and vegetables and their juices. (See for instance the lecture [1], and the book A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases, by Max Gerson, M.D.). Other scientists doubt the ability of these treatments to cure cancer, and point to the lack of detailed publication of their results ([2]).

Johanna Budwig proposed another diet therapy she claims can treat cancer. As with Max Gerson, most oncologists do not believe that a diet can treat cancer. Reports of dramatic remissions as a result of the Budwig diet are anecdotal, and not supported by peer-reviewedresearch. (On the other hand, her diet is good from a nutritional point of view and probably cannot do harm.)

Insulin potentiation therapy

In insulin potentiation therapy(IPT), insulinis given in conjunction with low-dose chemotherapy. Its proponents claim insulin therapy increases the uptake of chemotherapeutic drugs by malignant cells, permitting the use of lower total drug doses and reducing side effects.

Some In vitro studies have demonstrated the principle of IPT [3][4].

The first clinical trial of IPT for treating breast cancer was done in Uruguay and published in 2003/2004. Insulin combined with low-dose methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug) resulted in greatly increased stable disease, and much reduced progressive disease, compared with insulin or low-dose methotrexate alone. Although the study was very small (30 women, 10 per group), the results appear to be very promising. [5]

Fasting therapy

Long-term fastinghas been reported to work against malignant tumours. A specific mechanism for this effect has not been identified, and studies to date are merely anecdotal.

External links

• American Cancer Society
• National Cancer Institute
• Nature Reviews Cancer website
• Audio-video Physician Interviews on Cancer Treatment Breakthroughs
• "Questionable Cancer Therapies"

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