A Paradigm Shift in Cancer Therapy

From "Destroy and Kill" to "Modify and Repair"

In the treatment of cancer, the principle "DESTROY AND KILL" has so far been followed. The degenerated cancer cells were to be destroyed by means of a wooden hammer method. In this thesis we want to present a new treatment principle for cancer, which we want to call "MODIFY AND REPAIR".

In pregnancy, hormones play a role whose application in a pilot study both increased the survival rate of cancer patients and helped to repair damaged organs and promote wound healing. The concentration of these hormones is increased in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. This protects the pregnant woman from potentially dangerous cells of the unborn child. These hormones are also used to stabilize the uterus and ensure a sufficient blood supply. Thus, a "natural cancer therapy" is carried out. Our proposal is that these hormones should also be used in the treatment of cancer patients.

Introduction

From the great pathologist Rudolf Virchow (1821 - 1902) and his pupil Ernst Cronenberg two theorems on cancer have been handed down (Blech: Der Spiegel 2007), which are so topical that even the National Cancer Institute of the USA asked in 2001: "BACK TO RUDOLF VIRCHOW?" (Balkwill 2001):

1) Cancers are wounds that do not heal.

2) Cancer develops from cells that are damaged during organogenesis. Experimental findings prove Virchow right: cancer therapy and organ repair are interrelated (Goel 2012, Rohr 2010, Thomasova 2013). Since cancer cells have lost the ability to transform directly into functional tissue (Goel 2012), the new approach to cancer treatment we are proposing is to promote the conversion of dangerous cancer stem cells into functional cells. We want to call this "MODIFY AND REPAIR". This term was originally defined at Harvard Medical School and MIT in Boston. Unfortunately, they only intended to repair the blood capillaries in the tumor (Jain 2008), but according to Virchow the principle must be much broader: According to our findings, cancer must be treated by carrying out a general organ repair, whereby the repair of blood capillaries is a special case. The treatment must prevent metastasis, tumor growth and deadly cachexia caused by loss of appetite. According to our findings, these are controlled by steroid hormones.

What is the difference to the current paradigm? Currently, the principle of "DESTROY AND KILL" applies in cancer therapy. A major disadvantage of this common chemotherapy is that dying cancer cells emit IL-8 (Liang 2014). IL-8 prevents healthy stem cells from forming healthy, functional cells and making membranes permeable (Liang 2014). Subsequently, "encapsulation" of the tumour by healthy tissue is prevented and metastases can spread (Rohr 2010). The new paradigm "MODIFY AND REPAIR" does not have this disadvantage.

How "MODIFY AND REPAIR" works is surprisingly illustrated by pregnancy. During pregnancy, precisely those hormones that stabilize the membranes also convert cancer stem cells into differentiated, functional cells (Tagawa 2005, Rohr 2010, Kobayashi 2012). In particular, the placenta serves to contain cancer by preventing individual fetal cells from turning into dangerous cancer cells (Cervar 2013). For this reason, the incidence of breast and ovarian cancer in pregnancy decreases when it is carried out at a young age and completely (Kobayashi 2012).

Placenta (see Cervar et al 2013)

The placenta is a particularly important membrane because it connects two people. It grows extremely strongly, is mechanically strong and well supplied with blood. The tasks of the placenta:

- Structure of the mother-child barrier

- Synthesis of hormones and growth factors

- Immunological functions

- Exchange of nutrients, gases and waste products between mother and child

- Stability for perfusion of large quantities of blood

- Prevention of uncontrolled growth of the fetus into the mother

Pregnancy as a model

After fertilization, the blastocyst must implant itself in the woman's uterus. This takes place in a protective shell. As is generally known, the resulting trophoblast is very similar to a tumour. Two conditions have to be fulfilled: Firstly, there must be a pro-angiogenetic state at the beginning of pregnancy; secondly, after some time this state must be replaced by an antiangiogenetic state in order to stabilise the trophoblast and the mother. (Tube 2010, Challis 2009)

To make the trophoblast membrane permeable, the mother first releases Th1 cytokines (IL1b, TNF-alpha, etc.) (Challis 2010). At the same time, there is a drop in androstenediol (adiol) (Tagawa 2005). The relationship between adiol and Th1 cytokines is well established and also exists in other immunological situations, for example sepsis (Tagawa 2005, Brunnemer 2012, Loria 2009). It is also known that the concentration of adiol in umbilical cord blood is elevated compared to the venous blood of pregnant women (Schindler 1975). This relationship is used, for example, to treat trauma and septitis: The administration of adiol has been shown in animal experiments to stabilize blood capillaries by preventing the diffusion of pro-inflammatory cytokines into tissue and bloodstream (Brunnemer 2012). Side effects of increasing Th1 cytokines at the beginning of pregnancy are dizziness, fatigue and tendency to feel unwell, similar to cancer patients (Tagawa 2005). A too high increase of Th1 cytokines in plasma can unfortunately endanger pregnancy (Challis 2009).

Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disease in pregnancy that functionally corresponds to pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is caused by a decrease in the concentration of the estradiol metabolite 2-methoxy-estradiol (2ME) due to prevention of the conversion of 2-hydroxyestradiol to 2ME, resulting in 16-hydroxy-estradiol (Lee 2010, Jobe 2013). 2ME is about five times more anti-hypertensive than estradiol (Tofovic 2010) and has high antiangionetic properties (Rohr 2010). Due to its high cytotoxicity, 2ME acts similarly to a chemotherapeutic agent (Rohr 2010).

Clinical studies

The new paradigm "MODIFY AND REPAIR" focuses on substances that simultaneously a) have strong anti-angiogenesis properties, b) stabilize membranes and c) form new, functional tissue, i.e. carry out cell repair. The formulations tested by us increase estradiol and androgen metabolites from the precursors in an advantageous way, so that classical drug delivery is not necessary. The body synthesizes the necessary hormones itself, which are lowered in the disease state. Starting with individual cases at the Harvard Medical School (Klein 2006), through a pilot study in Germany (Rohr 2008), up to a 4-year long-term study and a multi-centre study with approx. 300 patients, the new concept could be investigated. In a pilot long-term study, the survival of cancer patients who had undergone therapy (breast, ovary, prostate cancer patients) was compared. As can be seen, the survival rate was significantly improved.

This therapy also "normalizes" the white blood cells. The necessity of such "normalization" can be explained by the fact that the stem cells from the spinal cord differentiate normally again and heal wounds and repair organs there on their way through the blood into the tissue. This has already been recognised by the Viennese physician Billroth. Christian Albert Theodor Billroth (* 26. April 1829 in Bergen on Rügen; † 6. February 1894 in Abbazia, Istria) was a German-Austrian physician and one of the most important surgeons of the 19th century. He is generally regarded as the founder of modern abdominal surgery and a pioneer of laryngeal surgery. The House of Doctors in Vienna is named after him. Billroth succeeded in proving that wound fever is caused by infections that are not caused by the air but by contact with "smallest living beings". He therefore demanded "cleanliness to the point of debauchery". His principle: "A good doctor can do more with a wet towel than a bad doctor with a whole pharmacy". This work led to Karl Landsteiner (* 14 June 1868 in Baden near Vienna; † 26 June 1943 in New York), an Austrian pathologist and serologist who discovered the AB0 system of blood groups in 1901, for which he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1930. In Vienna, therefore, connections between immunology, wound healing and blood have been known for a long time, whereby the action of steroid hormones in pregnancy and later the formation of organs from stem cells of the spinal cord have been a major concern.

The proof that not only the endothelium of the blood capillaries but also other organs could possibly be repaired was shown in the wound healing of MRSA patients and in patients with ALS and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Goslin, 2013). It is reported that normalisation of the disease is always associated with normalisation of blood pressure.

Conclusion

The new method presented here of using pregnancy to treat tumours is based on the findings of great doctors such as Rudolf Virchow from Berlin and Theodor Billroth from Vienna and avoids the disadvantages of modern therapies. If Virchow is right in saying that wound healing is needed to cure cancer, then Billroth must also be taken into account, who said that the blood must be in order to enable wound healing. The method of cancer therapy proposed by us causes a repair of the organs, because the hormones of pregnancy are so orchestrated that they not only treat individual phenomena, but carry out an overall repair, which reduces cellular stress and even carries out chemotherapy, but which does not endanger either mother or fetus.

Uwe Rohr and Claus Volko, cdvolko (at) gmail (dot) com

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