The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (52 page)

Luteolin is a powerful apoptogen, but it’s not the only player in Apocaps. Another agent I’ve recommended for years, that made it into the pill, is familiar to anyone who loves Indian food: curcumin.

“I use the Apocaps on a daily basis and swear by them! My oncologist warned me that Buddy’s white blood cell count would drop dramatically after undergoing chemo but it didn’t happen! It dropped two points and went up almost immediately. He has gained weight on a regular basis.”

– Debbie Granger, Chesterfield, Misso

Turmeric is a popular Indian spice, closely related to ginger. Anyone who’s ever had a bowl of yellow curry is familiar with its earthy, spicy flavor, but few realize that one of its bioflavonoids – curcumin – is an apoptogen.

Researchers recognize curcumin’s potential for safe and potent cancer treatments. As I write this, curcumin is undergoing several clinical trials, aimed at creating new human cancer therapeutics; at just one research center, The Ohio State University, curcumin is the blueprint for forty different synthetic anti-cancer drugs. Here’s what curcumin does
in vitro:

• Curcumin helps increase apoptosis, natural cell suicide, in cancer cells
  
• Curcumin is an antioxidant when taken in low doses, but when it is used in higher doses it has a pro-oxidant effect. As you’ll remember, pro-oxidants cause free radicals to form, which can damage and even outright destroy cancer cells (leaving normal cells untouched).
  
• Curcumin slows angiogenesis (the making of new blood vessels) in cancer cells, making it harder for them to feed themselves or metastasize.
  
• Curcumin decreases the activity of the enzyme COX-2, an enzyme associated with inflammation. COX-2 inhibitors have been shown to be beneficial in cancer cases.
  
• Curcumin blocks the topoisomerase enzymes, which are critical to the DNA replication process. As topoisomerase enzymes are disrupted, new cancer cells have diminished ability to “turn on” their growth genes.
  

In vitro
and some
in vivo
studies have shown that curcumin sensitizes cancer cells to the effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy (specific drugs studied were cisplatin, gemcitabine and capecitabine). Its ability to help induce apoptosis, help kill cancer cells directly with free radicals, impede angiogenesis, slow or in some cases stop cancer cell division, and reduce metastasis with few to no side effects made it an obvious choice for inclusion in Apocaps.

“My mixed breed/pitt was diagnosed with t-cell lymphoma in October, 2009 when she was nine and half years old. At that time I found The Dog Cancer Survival Guide on the internet and have used it as my guide to Full Spectrum treatment. That has included a full course of chemo (Wisconsin Protocol, and recently a modified second course). As soon as our vet was sure she was able to handle the chemo with little side effects, I added a number of complimentary protocols based on Dr. Dressler’s book: we switched to grain free dog food (a mix of wet and dry) and ordered Apocaps (at that time it was still distributed in powder form). I also incorporated K-9 Immunity caps and Salmon Oil into her food. As it is difficult to get a dog to take the caps- I open them and add to her food. In the case of the Apocaps- which she gets twice a day half hour before meals- she gets the cap contents mixed with small bits of boiled chicken in the chicken broth- and loves it. Everything else (we have recently added liver and joint support meds proscribed by our vet) is crushed and added with the K-9 Immunity to her dried food, which is then pre-bagged for an entire week’s servings and added to her wet food. Although this seems complicated, we have it quite organized, and she has been thriving so far. I think it is necessary to mention that there is a significant financial cost to taking this path. In our case, I believe the complimentary protocols- particularly Apocaps and the K-9 Immunity caps- are what kept Honey’s immune system strong enough to hit the lymphoma hard (we were told t-cell was an aggressive form), and we have had the resources (and ongoing results) to make that decision an easy one. Our primary vet told us that Honey only had a few months without treatment, and our oncologist was wary because it was the t-cell, not b-cell variety. It’s now a full year and a half since her initial diagnosis and I’m hoping she can make it through at least one more summer so she can go up to our lake and muck around with the frogs and chase chipmunks again.”

– Lyn Pentecost, New York City, New York

In addition to its anti-cancer effects, curcumin has some other benefits. Like its cousin ginger, it has been approved for use in treating nausea and stomach upset by Germany’s version of the FDA, Commission E. Like luteolin, curcumin has anti-inflammatory effects in the body. And finally, rodent studies have shown curcumin provides some protection for the kidneys during doxorubicin treatments.

Curcumin comes from a spice so the body has evolved to excrete it in the waste easily, which is probably why isn’t well absorbed when taken by mouth. However, I found other evidence that it still helped, even when taken by mouth: in early clinical trials involving mice, for example, curcumin shrank prostate cancer cells. In other trials involving humans, participants showed chemical marker changes in their bloodstreams after taking curcumin.

My concern about curcumin’s bioavailability was the reason I created the Trojan horse, which boosts curcumin’s blood levels in the Apocaps formula in several different ways.

Let’s look at the third major apoptogen found in Apocaps: apigenin.

If you have ever eaten a sprig of parsley, you’ve eaten the apoptogen apigenin. This bioflavonoid, commonly found in edible plants (artichokes, basil, celery and others), has many of the same effects as luteolin and curcumin do on cancer.