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The current trend in China is to integrate, or combine, Western
therapies with TCM [Traditional Chinese Medicine] in the treatment of
breast cancer. There are no available statistics on the proportion of
women using this approach. Our collaborators in China estimate that
about 70%-80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the
metropolitan areas, where Western medicine (WM) is favoured, are using
the combined approach at some point during their treatment of breast
cancer while a very small fraction of women use TCM as a sole
therapy … The treatments employed by the TCM physicians are aimed at
controlling side effects and toxicities attributed to cancer
therapies, improving quality of life, preventing recurrence, and
prolonging survival.

This is likewise my experience of cancer care in the People’s Republic of China across the board. Zhang Dai-zhao, a famous Chinese oncologist and author of The Treatment of Cancer by Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine, says that integration in treatment means “the organic cooperation between Chinese medical therapy and Western medicine by bringing the strong points of both parties into full display …”  Although this may not be the most elegant English, I believe it underscores the fact that Chinese and Western medicine can beneficially complement each other when it comes to the treatment of cancer. In fact, most issues of Chinese medical journals published in China contain at least one article describing a clinical trial utilizing integrated Chinese-Western medicine (zhong xi yi jie he) in the treatment of various cancers. As an example of this relatively voluminous but also relatively unknown literature (at least in the West), I would like to present a summary of an article by Zhang Liying, et al. recently published in Shi Yong Zhong Yi Nei Ke Za Zhi (Journal of Practical Chinese Medical Internal Medicine. 2006;1:53-43). The title of the article was “Clinical Observations on San Shen Tang (Three Sengs Decoction) in Oncological Radiation Therapy.” However, before immediately proceeding to that article, I would first like to say something about the process of radiation therapy and its adverse reactions or side effects.

How Radiation Works in Oncology

Radiation therapy, a.k.a. radiotherapy, is a highly targeted, highly effective way to destroy cancer cells. In radiation therapy, high-energy beams of radiation are focused on the cancer or the area from which a cancer has been previously removed surgically. Over time, this focused radiation damages cells that are in the path of its beam. These include both cancer cells and normal cells. However, cancer cells tend to grow and reproduce rapidly–two activities that are very vulnerable to radiation damage. In addition, because cancer cells are less well organized than healthy cells, they are less able to repair such damage and recover. Therefore, cancer cells are more easily destroyed by radiation, while healthy, normal cells typically repair themselves and survive.

Side Effects of Radiation

Because radiation is a local treatment, its side effects usually appear in the area being treated. The early effects of radiation may be seen a few days or weeks after the start of treatment and may continue for several weeks after treatments are completed.  Side effects include fatigue, bodily weakness, anemia, leukopenia, bone marrow suppression,  dryness, itching, darkening, and peeling of the skin, dryness, loss of taste, and inflammation of the lining of the mouth, memory loss, decreased sexual desire, or poor tolerance for cold weather (due to radiation of the brain), shortness of breath or cough (due to radiation of the chest), swelling and inflammation of the esophagus, stomach or intestines, causing nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea (due to radiation of the abdomen), vaginal tenderness and inflammation, thinning of the vaginal lining, and bleeding after intercourse (due to radiation of the pelvis in women), and erectile dysfunction (due to radiation of the pelvis in men).  According to Chinese medical theory, these side effects are due to damage by externally contracted heat causing  the accumulation of heat toxins,  qi vacuity, and  yin-blood-fluid-essence insufficiency.

Cohort Description

Altogether, there were 130 patients enrolled in the above-mentioned, two-wing comparison study: 78 males and 52 females, 36-84 years of age. These patients had an average age of 63.5 years. Twenty-seven suffered from lung cancer; 13 suffered from nasopharyngeal cancer; 31 suffered from esophageal cancer; seven suffered from stomach and/or colon cancer; 21 suffered from breast cancer; three suffered from kidney cancer; five suffered from malignant lymphoma; 14 suffered from various gynecological cancers, including ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers; and nine suffered from various other cancers. Thirty-nine of these patients were post-surgical. Six were stage I; 23 were stage II; 67 were stage III; and 34 were stage IV. These 130 patients were randomly divided into a single therapy group and a combined therapy group. The 57 patients in the single therapy group were only treated with radiation therapy, whereas those in the combined therapy group received the same radiation plus internally administered Chinese herbal medicine.

Dedicated to German physician Dr. Albert Scheller, Cancer Conquest is a remarkable video that is obligatory viewing and studying for physicians, cancer workers, and patients. Beyond offering the remarkable story of a revolutionary diagnostic test for determining the correct cancer treatment and proper administration of chemotherapy, this video interviews 15 physicians and cancer workers who are truly at the cutting edge of alternative cancer treatment. Through these interviews, Burton Goldberg presents an in-depth portrait of individuals who are combining the best of conventional and alternative complementary therapies. Many US physicians and patients will find the wealth of resources available in Germany for implementing alternative diagnostics and therapies astounding. Fortunately, a number of US clinics are beginning to utilize many of the protocols underway in Germany, providing a more available pathway for patients who are unable to journey to Europe. Still, there appears to be an advantage in having diagnostics and treatments initiated by the master practitioners directly, and it would be of definite advantage for many patients to consider the trip to Munich and Frankfurt. Physicians would be advised to study these masters as well. The video provides contact information for all the featured clinics and doctors.

Dr. Scheller, who passed away in 2005, developed a collaborative approach for diagnosing and treating cancer patients. While some clinics have offered unique cancer treatment protocols–for example, instituting strict dietary regimens–Scheller sought to combine conventional cancer treatment approaches in modified fashion to maximize cancer control. Dr. Scheller focused on understanding cancer cell metabolic pathways. This understanding provided clues to either killing cancer cells outright or shutting down their reproductive mechanisms. Together with Professor Michael Giesing, MD, of Munster, Germany, Dr. Scheller tested patient blood samples for evidence of micrometastasis, the microscopic spread of the primary cancer through the blood stream.

In his interview here, Professor Giesing states that, despite removal of the tumor by radical surgery and administration of chemotherapy and radiation, tumor cells are released in the blood stream, permitting micrometastasis development. The exposure of these cells to chemotherapy and radiation allows for the creation of new cancer cells distinctly different from the primary tumor cells and resistant to previously administered chemotherapies. The micrometastatic cells have distinct metabolic and gene functioning, which will advance into fully growing metastatic tumors, unless the tumor metabolic function can be shut down. Giesing, in collaboration with other German physicians and molecular chemists, has studied the genetic metabolic pathways of these micrometastatic tumor cells. The relative ease of this metabolic and genetic testing–which Giesing calls pharmacogenomic testing–provides a means for testing the cancer cells’ sensitivity to different chemotherapy agents. This testing is a phenomenal advance for oncology; while most chemotherapy protocols dictate in cookbook fashion specific chemotherapy agents for specific tumors, this testing would determine the precise chemotherapies appropriate for the metastatic tumor.

Giesing comments on a patient who had metastatic colorectal carcinoma and had been failing under standard chemotherapy regimens. After pharmacogenomic testing, it was determined that the patient’s tumor was highly sensitive to Herceptin, an agent primarily used in treating breast cancer. Ed Van Overloop, a member of the CARE cancer support group, was treated by Dr. Scheller for his recurrent prostate cancer. After the genomic testing, now done by the Bio-Focus Institute for Molecular Oncology in Recklinghausen, Germany  it was determined that a chemotherapy agent primarily prescribed for ovarian cancer was the best treatment for his prostate cancer. Van Overloop presented to Scheller with a PSA score approaching 1000; after three weeks of treatment, his PSA score dropped to 50, and a month later his score dropped to below 15. Note that Van Overloop’s treatment at Dr. Scheller’s clinic was not limited to chemotherapy. He received many other therapies, including hyperthermia treatment and specific immune therapies. Yet, his treatment clearly was enhanced when the proper chemotherapy agent was administered.

The high rate of prostate cancer among African American men may result in large part from a newly identified stretch of DNA passed down from their African ancestors.

A black man’s odds of developing prostate cancer by age 55 are more than twice those of a white man. The racial discrepancy is less pronounced when the disease appears later. Researchers have suspected for years that genetic factors account for part of the racial difference in risk.

Most African Americans have both African and European forebears, so their chromosomes are mosaics of genes from the two continents. Previously identified genetic markers indicate that in U.S. blacks, an average of about 80 percent of the DNA is African in origin.

Geneticists have long hypothesized that they could identify disease-causing chunks of DNA by sifting through the genomes of ethnically mixed populations and noting where people with a disease tend to have genes from the same ancestral source, says David Reich of Harvard Medical School in Boston. Recent technical advances have made this approach feasible.

Reich and his colleagues analyzed the genomes of nearly 1,600 African Americans who had developed prostate cancer. In those men, a portion of chromosome 8 containing nine known genes was more frequently of African origin than were other portions of the DNA.

When the team tested nearly 900 cancer-free African American men, African ancestry of DNA turned up no more frequently in the implicated portion of chromosome 8 than elsewhere in their genomes.

Those findings suggest that having African rather than European DNA at the chromosome-8 location places a man at high risk of prostate cancer, the researchers report in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team found the most dramatic link between men’s developing cancer at a young age and having the African chunk of DNA. “The risk factor we’ve identified is clearly more important for younger men than for older men,” Reich says.

That finding is the study’s most important new observation, says geneticist B. Jill Williams of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.

Its other findings merely confirm data reported in the June Nature Genetics, contends Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, Iceland. In that study, he and his colleagues linked an elevated risk of prostate cancer to a gene variant in the chromosome-8 segment examined by Reich’s team. That variant is carried by nearly one-third of African Americans but appears at lower frequencies in Europeans and white Americans, Stefansson says.

However, the variant identified by Stefansson’s group explains only a fraction of the newly reported association between prostate cancer and African ancestry in the critical stretch of chromosome 8. “There must be important and unidentified risk factors for prostate cancer in this section of genetic material,” Reich concludes.

“It’s also possible and, I think, more likely that there are other variants of the same gene,” counters Stefansson.

Factors related to DNA damage and altered immunologic responses, such as reactive oxygen species production, are associated with the risk of nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL). OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate NHL risk with intakes of vegetables, fruit, and nutrients involved in antioxidant activities. DESIGN: Incident case subjects aged 20-74 y were identified between 1998 and 2000 from a National Cancer Institute-sponsored study by using four Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries. Control subjects, who were selected by random dialing (< 65 y) and from Medicare files (> or = 65 y), were matched to cases by age, center, race, and sex. Of 1321 case and 1057 control subjects who enrolled, dietary data were collected on a subset (466 cases and 391 controls). Carotenoid intakes were estimated by using updated values from the US Department of Agriculture nutrient databases. Unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% Cts. RESULTS: NHL risk was inversely associated with higher number of weekly servings of all vegetables (multivariable OR for highest compared with lowest quartile: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.95; P for trend = 0.04), green leafy vegetables (OR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.96; P for trend = 0.01), and cruciferous vegetables (OR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.39, 1.00: P for trend = 0.05) and with higher daily intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin (OR: 0.54; 95% Cl: 0.32, 0.91; P for trend = 0.06) and zinc (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.91; P for trend = 0.02). An effect modification by exercise and NHL subtype was observed with some food groups and nutrients. CONCLUSION: Higher intakes of vegetables, lutein and zeaxanthin, and zinc are associated with a lower NHL risk.

Although Medicare has been covering colonoscopy for average-risk beneficiaries since July 2001, a study reported in the July-August issue of Health Affairs has found that fewer than half of the elderly are screened. Researchers examined the effect of Medicare reimbursement on the rate and disparity of colorectal cancer screening among the elderly in the United States.

Although Medicare coverage has alleviated the screening disparity between non-Hispanic whites and blacks, they write, the gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites has widened.

Curcumin, a natural component of the rhizome of Curcuma longa has emerged as one of the most powerful chemopreventive and anticancer agents. Its biological effects range from antioxidant, anti-inflammatory to inhibition of angiogenesis and is also shown to possess specific antitumoral activity. The molecular mechanism of its varied cellular effects has been studied in some details and it has been shown to have multiple targets and interacting macromolecules within the cell. Curcumin has been shown to possess anti-angiogenic properties and the angioinhibitory effects of curcumin manifest due to down regulation of proangiogenic genes such as VEGF and angiopoitin and a decrease in migration and invasion of endothelial cells. One of the important factors implicated in chemoresistance and induced chemosensitivity is NFkB and curcumin has been shown to down regulate NFkB and inhibit IKB kinase thereby suppressing proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Cell lines that are resistant to certain apoptotic inducers and radiation become susceptible to apoptosis when treated in conjunction with curcumin. Besides this it can also act as a chemopreventive agent in cancers of colon, stomach and skin by suppressing colonic aberrant crypt foci formation and DNA adduct formation. This review focuses on the various aspects of curcumin as a potential drug for cancer treatment and its implications in a variety of biological and cellular processes vis-a-vis its mechanism of action.

Maureen Rankine is dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer. The professional tennis instructor and former top-ranked player started Tennis Against Breast Cancer Inc. in 1996 to raise money for breast cancer education, early detection, and research.

Now in its 13th year, TABC has raised more than $100,000 since its inception. Rankine started the organization after an unexpected turn playing in a charity tennis event made her realize she could combine her business degree and her love of tennis for a good cause.

Mammography clinics, research groups, and organizations that support breast cancer survivors have received funds from TABC. One beneficiary, SHARE, has hotlines, support groups, wellness and education programs, and advocacy activities, all free of charge. “We were very fortunate to be a recipient of TABC’s efforts. Funds that we receive from organizations like TABC enable us to provide peer support services for people affected by breast cancer to anyone who walks through our door,” says executive director Alice Yaker.

“TABC couldn’t help groups like SHARE without the support we receive from individuals and companies willing to donate their time, products, and money,” says Rankine. Visit www.tennis abc.org to volunteer at an event or make a donation.

OBJECTIVES: To report a prospective trial of lycopene supplementation in biochemically relapsed prostate cancer. METHODS: A total of 36 men with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer were enrolled in a dose-escalating, Phase I-II trial of lycopene supplementation. Six consecutive cohorts of 6 patients each received daily supplementation with 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 mg/day for 1 year. The serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and plasma levels of lycopene were measured at baseline and every 3 months. The primary endpoints were PSA response (defined as a 50% decrease in serum PSA from baseline), pharmacokinetics, and the toxicity/ tolerability of this regimen. RESULTS: A total of 36 patients were enrolled. The median age was 74 years (range 56 to 83), with a median serum PSA at entry of 4.4 ng/mL (range 0.8 to 24.9). No serum PSA responses were observed, and 37% of patients had PSA progression. The median time to progression was not reached. Toxicity was mild, with 1 patient discontinuing therapy because of diarrhea. Significant elevations of plasma lycopene were noted at 3 months and then appeared to plateau for all six dose levels. The plasma levels for doses between 15 and 90 mg/day were similar, with additional elevation only at 120 mg/day. CONCLUSIONS: Lycopene supplementation in men with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer is safe and well tolerated. The plasma levels of lycopene were similar for a wide dose range (15 to 90 mg/day) and plateaued by 3 months. Lycopene supplementation at the doses used in this study did not result in any discernible response in serum PSA.

Cancer does not affect just one part of your body—it affects all of you and everything in your life. Clinically, it is a disease that manifests itself as dysfunctions in cells that lead to rapid, unstructured growth. These defective cells either kill healthy cells or form tumors. So a holistic approach is needed in treating it. Cancer treatment involves a total care for the patient’s mind, body and spirit.

Cancer treatment centers are equipped with a dedicated team of experts who provide comprehensive, personalized treatment. This team helps the patient fight the cancer on many fronts, through a combination of medical, nutritional, physical, psychological and spiritual therapies. There are a number of different medical procedures used to treat cancer. The three common methods of cancer treatment are surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. These methods of treatment have been carried out for a very long time. The type of cancer, the extent of the disease, and the general state of the patient’s health are all influential factors in determining the most appropriate cancer treatment combination.

If suffering from this dreadful disease is not horrifying enough, the treatment itself can be such a traumatic experience that these treatment centers become a cancer patient’s greatest ally when it comes to fighting the cancer. Along with innovative cancer treatment a cancer patient needs compassion, which these treatment centers provide. They know that a cancer patient is fighting for his life, and their mission is to arm him with every choice, offer him every chance, and empower him to victory.

They believe in a patient’s fundamental right to be informed about, and to choose, the best available options for his treatment, and they encourage the patient and his family to be fully involved in every decision.

In order to achieve their goals the treatment centers must also include clinical trials, comprehensive education programs and research-backed programs for the latest information about both common and rare cancers.

It seems the news has become virtually unwatchable and the print media, too painful to read. With death, sickness and disease plastered across most nightly news programs, it may be unavoidable. One of the worst of the worst is a horrible disease that we call cancer. Our collective knowledge of this disease is scarce to say the least. This is why it’s important to acquire cancer facts from a reliable cancer resource. In the best resource you have right now is at your fingertips, your computer.

Have you ever has it that need for a solid and cancer resource? There is a plethora of valuable information that is available to us. The most important resource is also the most convenient as a cancer resource. I’m talking about the Internet. Cancer is so prevalent that I believe we should all take the time to learn a little, and by doing so we may educate ourselves and how to avoid getting cancer.

Are you aware that cancer is a genetic condition in many cases? It’s true; while most individuals people don’t realize this, they nevertheless are susceptible to cancer like the rest of us. But just because there are cancer genes with MS doesn’t mean we have to succumb to them. To start, our diets play a big role in our health.

That’s why it is so important that we take care of ourselves by heating right and exercising. When you subject yourself to poor eating habits and gaining extra pounds, you in turn better your chances of acquiring some kind of illness. We must play an active role in protecting our bodies from those agents that may do us harm.

Are you watching your diet? You can certainly turn to a credible cancer resource such as the Internet to learn more about eating right and avoiding processed foods. And of course it goes without saying that cancer can be avoided in many cases by simply not smoking. By now, virtually all of us should know and understand the negative effects of smoking and what it does to our lungs. Although I personally know someone that smokes who was in denial of this fact. If you are a heavy smoker, then you may want to get online and browse a few websites that deal with lung cancer.

In this day and age it’s definitely not difficult to find a cancer resource. We would all be well served to become better educated in this area. There are numerous types of cancer that can affect different areas of the body. It may very well be impossible to completely prevent cancer, but at the same time there are plenty of things that we can do to protect ourselves from contracting it to begin with. Having a quality cancer resource at your disposal is an excellent first step in battling this hideous disease.