Defeat Cancer (5 page)

I am not the author of the information in this book. The authors are the fifteen doctors who agreed to devote their time and energy to interview with me and then revise their interviews several times after I transcribed and re-wrote them. I have provided medical definitions and clarified the doctors’ perspectives throughout the book, but only in a grammatical sense, so that the information would read like a book, rather than a conversation, and readers would fully understand the doctors’ information and the medical
concepts contained herein. I have done my best to act as a conduit of information between the doctors and my readers. This book, if I have done my job, should get readers as close as possible to a face-to-face conversation with these doctors.

Yet, because the information has been taken from my conversations with the doctors, it won’t read exactly like a textbook or any other type of medical book. In fact, readers may notice that my writing style differs somewhat from chapter to chapter, according to the doctors’ manner of expression and how they shared information with me. Maintaining these stylistic differences was necessary and desirable in order to preserve their information.

Also, the information is intended to provide an overview of each doctor’s treatment approach, rather than an in-depth dissertation on every aspect of their protocols. A highly detailed explanation of each doctor’s protocol would have required that a separate book be written for each doctor. Having suffered from a chronic disease myself, I understand the value of obtaining a bird’s-eye view of a complex topic, and this book was written partly for that reason. Those who want to learn more about a specific type of treatment can do further research on their own. I believe that readers will find that the book offers an informative and comprehensive overview of the best cancer treatments available in integrative medicine. These provide a solid foundation upon which to conduct more detailed research.

Finally, while each doctor who participated in this work provided a unique viewpoint, I noticed two common themes in all of the chapters. First, there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” treatment for cancer in integrative medicine. “Cookie cutter” protocols don’t work for most patients. Every patient is unique and requires an individualized, customized treatment approach. Second, healing from cancer isn’t just about eradicating tumors and cancer cells. It’s about addressing the multiple systemic dysfunctions and factors which caused the cancer to establish a foothold in the body in the first place. It’s about healing the immune system, removing toxicity from the body, establishing healthier habits, balancing hormones,
replenishing nutrients, healing past trauma (emotional and physical), and dealing with various other problems, biochemical and otherwise.

May this book provide you, the person with cancer, hope, healing, and the prospect of better days ahead, and may it provide you, the cancer doctor, with new and innovative ways of treating your patients. And to everyone else who picks up this book, may it enable you to better understand the disease that we call cancer, so that you may know how to prevent it in your own life, and better support others in their quest for healing.

This book contains a tremendous amount of information, and readers may become overwhelmed if they are not prepared to assimilate it.

While reading the book, you are encouraged to employ an “information organization strategy,” so that you can keep track of the information that is most relevant and important to you. It is recommended that you have at your side a highlighter marker and a notepad. You can use the highlighter to mark information that you feel is important, and that you wish to return to in the future. You can use the notepad to write down the names of treatments, tests, or procedures that you want to integrate into your treatment plan or discuss with your doctor.

Stanislaw R. Burzynski, MD, PhD, is an internationally-recognized physician and biochemist-researcher who has pioneered the development and use of biologically active peptides for diagnosing, preventing, and treating cancer since 1967.

In 1967, at the young age of 24, he graduated with distinction from the Medical Academy in Lublin, Poland with an MD degree, finishing first in his class of 250. During the same year, he identified naturally-occurring peptides in the human body which he concluded controlled cancer growth. He found that there is a marked deficiency of these peptides in cancer patients.

The following year, in 1968, he earned his PhD in Biochemistry and became one of the youngest candidates in Poland to ever hold both an MD and PhD degree.

From 1970 to 1977, while a researcher and Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, his research was sponsored
and partially funded by the National Cancer Institute. At Baylor, he authored and co-authored sixteen publications. Five concerned his research on peptides and their effect on human cancer, and four others were co-authored by other doctors associated with MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and Baylor College of Medicine. It was at Baylor that he named these peptides “antineoplastons” due to their activity in correcting and normalizing neoplastic or cancerous cells.

In May 1977, Dr. Burzynski received a Certificate of Appreciation from Baylor College of Medicine, commending him for five years of dedicated service to the college and acknowledging him for the contributions that he made to the “advancement of medical education, research, and health care.”

That same month, Dr. Burzynski founded his clinic in Houston, where he has since treated over 15,000 patients. He is also President of the Burzynski Research Institute, where he continues to pursue scientific research on antineoplastons.

Dr. Burzynski is a member in good standing of many renowned medical associations, including the American and World Medical Associations, American Association for Cancer Research, Society for Neuroscience, Texas Medical Association, Royal Medical Association (U.K.), and the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

Dr. Burzynski is the author and co-author of over 300 scientific publications and presentations. Throughout his career, he has received numerous prestigious awards from various medical, educational, and governmental institutions. As of January 2007, he holds 242 patents related to proprietary scientific inventions.

Other groups of scientists have expanded Dr. Burzynski’s work, including researchers at the University of Kurume Medical School in Japan. Several hundred publications on antineoplastons and their active ingredients have been written by scientists who work independently of the Burzynski Research Institute.

Cancer can be defined as the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, which is caused by cancer genomes (a
genome
is all the genetic material contained in an organism, including its DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid). The cancer genome is a special combination of genes which conspires to produce cells that successfully compete for survival with normal cells of the body, and which are able to survive better than these normal cells. Scientists have now identified genomes for about 100 different types of cancer, so they can tell how many genes are abnormal in various types of cancers and what those specific genes are. Modern scientists are finally accepting that it’s the abnormal, malignant genomes which cause cancer and that these genomes are more complex than normal genomes. Cancer genomes are very complicated and there is much we have yet to understand about them. There are multiple factors which cause abnormal genomes to develop, but it’s a very difficult task to try to identify what all of these are.

Regardless of the factors that trigger the development of cancer, in order to effectively treat it, doctors must identify and then control the abnormal genes that are causing it. This is a very difficult task, since the average cancer has about 80 abnormal genes but can have over 500 abnormal genes. The average number of abnormal genes involved in most people’s cancers ranges from 40 to 200. These abnormal genes hijack and suffocate a much larger number of normal genes—approximately 600-1,000.

In addition to normal genes, the body also has silent genes; that is, genes that have been switched off (by environmental and other factors), and which no longer help the body to protect itself against cancer. Turning these silent tumor-suppressor genes back on again is very important for defeating cancer.

So, controlling gene expression is a complex task, made even more difficult by the fact that the 80 or so abnormal genes that cause
cancer can end up creating a deregulated network of over 3,000 genes in the body—all of which cause and spread malignant disease.

Two things must be done in order to control abnormal genes. First, the genes which cause cancer cells to grow in the body, called oncogenes, must be turned off. Second, the genes which fight cancer, called tumor-suppressor genes, must be turned on. In order to accomplish these goals, molecular switches must be used. As an analogy, consider a switchboard that has different switches for turning on and off a piece of machinery. You can turn off certain switches to make the machinery stop, and turn on other switches to turn it back on.

The human body has similar molecular switches, some of which turn off oncogenes, and others which turn on tumor-suppressor genes. These switches are called antineoplastons, which are naturally occurring peptides and amino acid derivatives in the blood and urine that the human body naturally uses to control cancer growth. They comprise a biochemical defense system that controls cancer without destroying normal cells. The name “antineoplastons” comes from their function in controlling neoplastic or cancerous cells: i.e., anti-neoplastic cell agents.

Hence, treating cancer involves using biochemically synthesized antineoplastons that will both turn off the activity of the genes which cause cancer and turn on the activity of genes which suppress cancer.

Since the function of antineoplastons is to bring gene activity to a normal level, they affect only abnormal genes in the body. They turn off the genes which are hyperactive and turn on the genes which are inactive. They do nothing in normal cells, because the activity of a normal cell doesn’t need to be affected. As an analogy, suppose that you need to adjust the temperature in various rooms of your house. You turn up the thermostat in the rooms that are too
cold, and you turn it down in the rooms that are too warm. The too-hot and too-cold rooms represent the body’s abnormal cells, and the thermostat represents the antineoplastons, which either turn up the temperature or turn it down (or turn off hyperactive genes and turn on silent genes). The room where the temperature is normal represents the normal cell that isn’t affected by antineoplastons.

I discovered antineoplastons a long time ago, in 1967, when I was a medical student. In addition to being a medical doctor, I am also a chemist. Through my research as a chemist, I discovered that cancer patients had a deficiency of certain peptides in their blood; peptides which we all have and which protect our bodies against cancer. I isolated these peptides and tested them together with scientists at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and learned that many of them would kill malignant cancer cells, but not harm normal cells. After isolating the peptides, I characterized their chemical structure and reproduced them synthetically (in the typical manner that all pharmaceutical agents are developed for use on cancer patients). Thus began my work with antineoplastons.

At my clinic, my fellow doctors and I have been given permission by the FDA to use antineoplastons, mostly in clinical trials. The antineoplastons we use in these trials affect approximately 100 different genes which have been instrumental in the formation of our patients’ cancers. I have discovered that if I can turn off around 100 genes which are causing a cancer to grow, then I can stop the growth of that cancer, or even eliminate it. To achieve this in our patients, we must determine the proper combination of genes for each one.

The entire world is moving in the direction of gene-targeted therapy for cancer treatment by creating its own gene-targeted therapies. However, the current gene targeted therapies on the market are
quite primitive: most, like Avastin, only work by affecting a single gene. So while these therapies can work for awhile, they are insufficient for treating cancer because cancer has a gene-signaling network of thousands of genes (on average 2,400) and will eventually overcome the effects of any therapy that is targeted to affect only one of its genes. At our clinic, we are really a decade or two ahead of others who use gene-targeted therapy because our medications (antineoplastons) work on close to 100 different genes and are comprised of naturally-occurring chemicals that don’t harm the patient’s body, unlike other gene-targeted therapies which often have adverse effects upon normal cells.

If doctors use a therapy that works on just one gene (the targeted gene is typically called the “driver” oncogene), then it’s possible for their patients’ tumors to shrink. Unfortunately, those tumors will eventually find a way to subvert that gene. Also, there are about twelve main gene signaling pathways in cancer (gene signaling is part of a complex system of communication that governs cellular activity and which coordinates cell action), which means that, in order for gene therapy to work, doctors must influence not only single genes, but their entire pathways, which are also comprised of numerous genes. And that’s still not the end of the story! In addition to this challenge, they must get rid of their patients’ malignant stem cells, which multiply and produce new cancer cells. Further complicating matters is the fact that these malignant stem cells are practically immortal. So treatment requires finding special combinations of antineoplastons that will also influence the gene signaling pathways and kill malignant stem cells without harming normal stem cells. Once doctors are able to do this, then their patients can be cured.