A very interesting cancer treatment is being practiced by Phillip Minton, both a MD and homeopathic doctor. He has clinics in the Bahamas and in Nevada. He started practicing medicine, then returned to Stanford University to get a degree in molecular biology as well. He left traditional medicine to practice very "high-tech" natural medicine. He calls his therapy R-A Therapy, with the R standing for redifferentiation and the A standing for apoptosis, cellular death. His therapy relies more on injection than on pills.

He believes that once the cancer cells become vulnerable to dying, the antioxidants and other immune enhancing nutrients and micro-nutrients used in natural cancer treatment can do their work of protecting RNA/DNA from damage and repairing existing RNA/DNA damage. The new cells that then form are normal parts of that particular organ, with no "immortal" reproduction ability. Both conventional and alternative medicine continue to focus on killing cancer cells, called apoptosis, as does Dr. Minton.

His website is www.aacancer.com. His center is call Advanced Alternatives Cancer Center. He describes his treatment better than I can. On his "Helping You" page he clearly gives treatments goals. "At Advanced Alternatives, our goal is to help you achieve the best possible clinical outcome". He continues, "with this goal in mind, we strive to bring to each of our patients the most promising natural and alternative therapies from around the world" and he does. His motto is "uniquely powerful therapies to produce remarkable results". He continues, "we utilize the newest, along with the best of the oldest, alternative cancer treatments".

He treats each patient as unique. His view is "it has long been known that each cancer patient and their disease are unique. This is true even if they seemingly have the exact stage and type of cancer that others may have. The reasons for this phenomenon are multiple. Every person has experienced a unique exposure to potential carcinogens such as toxins, radiation and stress. Additionally, the immune system of each person is unique. Finally the genes that control each cancer cell will be different from person to person".

Treatment starts with an initial physical exam and testing. A treatment plan is formed from the results of these tests. The proposed plan is discussed with the patient and his/her family, if available. This plan may be modified in accord with the patient's response to therapy as he or she progresses through the two to three week course of therapy. In addition, "the staff focuses their attention on helping the patient to 'help themselves' with healing". This is achieved via changes in eating and exercise habits, meditation, and the use of aromatherapy". Don't let these soft words fool you. Every therapy he uses shows his strong bio-chemical background, all to you advantage.

Dr. Minton uses some extremely powerful natural therapies, mostly given by injection. The therapies come under four programs, each with a specific goal in mind. The R-A program "focuses intensely on the body's inborn genetic healing system to fight cancer. Many various natural substances are employed in high doses to stimulate the genes of each cancer cell to undergo a process of natural self-healing". This essentially means the re-programming of the genetic material stored in each cancer cell.

The Immune Boost program works along with the R-A Therapy program. "It utilizes another group of natural therapies to strengthen and stimulate the immune system." Dr. Minton far from ignores the vitamins, minerals and other anti-oxidants used in alternative cancer treatment. He administers many of them by injection, thus quickly increasing their powerful presence.

The concept of these two therapies may sound a little familiar to you. Th other two therapies are the Telomerase Therapies program and the Perillyl Alcohol program. Most of you will not be familiar with these therapies. To put it very simplistically, the remaining two therapies focus first on stopping the rampant duplication of the cancer cell and second, the destruction of the substance that enables the tumor to remain unrecognized as abnormal by the immune system. Once the tumor becomes recognizable to the strengthened immune system it can be attacked. Apoptosis - cellular death - can then occur.

Let's look at some of the substances he uses (not all substances are used with each patient). One of the substances is Iscador, a mistletoe preparation from Germany. Mistletoe lectin has been shown to cause apoptosis (death) in cancer cells by blocking the enzyme Telomerase that appears to govern the uncontrollable growth of most cancer cells.

What is know about Telomerase?
From www.swmed.edu comes the following information on Telomerase: "Telomerase, also called Telomere terminal transferase, is an enzyme made of protein and RNA subunits that elongates chromosomes by adding TTAGGG sequences to the end of existing chromosomes. Telomerase is found in fetal tissues, adult germ cells, and also tumor cells."

"Telomerase has been detected in human cancer cells and is found to be 10-20 times more active than in normal body cells. This provides a selective growth advantage to many types of tumors. If Telomerase activity was to be tuned off, then Telomere in cancer cells would shorten, just like they do in normal body cells. This would prevent the cancer cells from dividing uncontrollably in their stages of development."

The question then is how to stop uncontrolled Telomerase activity in cancer cells. Preparations from various strains of mistletoe have been used for years in cancer therapy in Europe and Asia (mistletoe has been used by man since the time of the druids, my ancestors). I did a review of the Telomerase cytotoxicity of mistletoe via Pub Med where I found studies from the U.S. Studies are published from Germany and Korea, with a smattering from France and Switzerland. Mistletoe lectins have been used in German cancer treatment for years.

A recent study from the College of "Natural Sciences, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea" was published in Arch Pharm Res 2002 Feb;23 (1):93-101 titled "Korean mistletoe lectin-induced apoptosis in hepatocarcinoma cells associated with inhibition of Telomerase via mitochondrial controlled pathway independent of p53" concludes that "Our results which comes from inhibition of Telomerase and consequent apoptosis". Twelve other studies confirm these findings. What does this mean to you? This simply means mistletoe lectin cause cancer cells to revert to cells that die.

Why haven't you heard about mistletoe lectins before? Why ha such an important natural substance been kept quiet? From the University of Arizona, June 3, 1999, Carolyn Bentley: Biochemistry 462b Honor Project: "Pharmaceutical companies are searching for a compound to inhibit the action of Telomerase. The hope is, as a result of knocking out Telomerase activity, to proliferation of tumor cells by allowing the cell's telomeres to shorten. When the telomeres shorten below the critical point necessary for an immortalized cell, cell senescence (a natural cell death) is likely to occur and thus the order to make millions, while people unnecessarily die while a natural compound that has been shown over and over again to stop Telomerase growth has been commercially available for some 25+ years!

A cornerstone of Dr. Minton's treatment is NAC and the cystiene metabolism. Clinical studies such as the one published in the Int J Bio Markers, 1999 Oct-Dec; 14(4):268-71 from the National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa, Italy, titled "N-acetylcysteine inhibits endothelial cell invasion and angiogenesis," with an abstract published on Pub Med, indicate a major reason for the power of NAC in the treatment of cancer is its ability to inhibit the enzyme activity of the cancer cells to produce those "scissors" Dr. Rath spoke of, thus stopping the cancer cells from invading the collagen. If the tumor can't invade the collagen, it can't spread. The abstract on Pub Med ends with the conclusion "NAC prevented angiogenesis while preserving endothelial cells, implying that is could be safely used as an anti-angiogenic treatment". What does it mean to you? It means that NAC inhibited the enzyme action of the cancer cells. Without these enzymes "scissors" the cancer cells can't break loose and spread throughout your body.

Further studies confirm NAC is an anti-angiogenic treatment. Studies on Pub Med such as the one entitled "N-acetylcysteine inhibits endothelial cell invasion and angiogenesis", from the National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa Italy, published in Lab Invest. 1999 Sep; 79(9): 1151-9, show that NAC also stops angiogenesis. Strong words, these! Angiogenesis is the formation of the blood vessels the tumor makes to bring nutrients to it. What does this mean to you? It means that without these feeder blood vessels the tumor starves to death, apoptosis.

The curious child in me continues to ask "Why?". NAC is a thiol. I find it very interesting that a study by the Department of Chemoprevention, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, published in "Current Drug Metabolism," 2004 April; 5(2): 193-210 is titled: "Isothiocyanates in the chemoprevention of bladder cancer". The article says, "Many plan Isothiocyanates (Tics) have shown cancer preventative activity in a variety of ways. They are know to inhibit carcinogen-activating enzymes and induce carcinogen-detoxifying enzymes, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and differentiation of cancer cells. More important, orally ingested ITC are efficiently absorbed, rapidly and almost exclusively excreted and concentrated in the urine as N-acetylcysteine conjugates (NAC-ITC). NAC-ITCS also posses anticarcinogenic activity, perhaps due to their facile dissociation to free tics." this study also showed that the NAC-Isothiocyanates breaks down freely to tics (Isothiocyanates). In this way NAC captures and stores excreted tics and releases them back into the body - a recycling center for Isothiocyanates!

This study closely followed a study published in "Carcinogenesis" 2004 March 11 (Epub ahead of print), from the Department of Medicine and Department of Pathology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York 10595, abstract on Pub Med, titled "Ingestion of an isothiocyanate metabolite from cruiferous vegetables inhibits growth of human prostate cancer xenografts by apoptosis and cell cycle arrest."

Our studies demonstrated that exposure of human prostate cancer cells in culture to the N-acetylcysteine (NAC) conjugate of phenethyl isothiocyanate (PETIC-NAC), the major metabolite of PEITC that is abundant in watercress, inhibited proliferation and tumorigenesis. The PEITC-NAC is known to mediate cytoprotection at the initiation of carcinogenisis. The relevance of PEITC-NAC in diets on the growth of prostate tumor cells showed a reduction in tumor size in 100% of the mice used in this study during the nine-week treatment period. Tumor weight on autopsy was reduced by 50%. The PEITC-NAC diet up-regulated the inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases. The treated tumors also showed a significant increase in apoptosis.

What does this mean to you? The thiol NAC (N-acetylcysteine) and the isocyanates in watercress, green vegetables and all the other foods listed by me in "How Nitrilosides Work" on pg. 39-41 will first, stop the spread of cancer and subsequently cause the death of the tumor. Studies have proved that the oral ingestion (eating) of these foods in large enough quantities will prevent and even kill cancer.

A study published in Nutr cancer 2003; 46 (2):222-31 from Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, titled Composition, efficacy, and safety of spinach extracts states "A powerful, water-soluble, natural antioxidant mixture (NAO), which specifically inhibits the lipoxygenase enzyme, was isolated from the spinach leaves. The antioxidative activity of NAO has been compared to that of other known antioxidants and found to be superior in vitro and in vivo to that of green tea, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and vitamin E. NAO has been tested and found to be nonmutagenic and has shown promising anticarcinogenic effects in a few experimental models, such as skin and prostate cancer; it has not shown target-organ toxicity or side effects.

Eating large enough quantities of these foods is easily possible, as such a wide variety of foods contain nitrilosides. All governmental and private health agencies are now recommending you eat 10 servings a day of veggies and at least five servings of fruit. Why? Vitamins, yes. Minerals, yes. But most of all, the foods they are recommending are foods high in Nitrilosides. What should you do? Look at the list of foods containing nitrilosides. Fortunately the list is long, varied, and full of tasty foods. Eat, juice and snack on many of them every day.

NAC has other cancer preventative/destructive actions. A study by the Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Department of Genetics, Yale University of Medicine, New Have, CT06520-8040, USA, published in Carcinogenesis, 1999 Sep;20(9):1869-72, Titled: "Induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors and G(1) prolongation by the chemoprotective agent N-acetylcysteine" shows that NAC has another set of actions, the ability to repair DNA, to slow down DNA replication, and induce cellular differentiation. This is so important that I want you to read it again: NAC has another set of actions, the ability to repair DNA, to slow down DNA replication, and induce cellular differentiation.

These are just a few words, but they are powerful ones. Cancer cells have damaged DNA, that's why they are cancer cells. They replicate constantly, dividing and making identical cells which include the damaged DNA. This study finds that NAC has the ability to repair this damaged DNA, and effect a "slowdown" of DNA replication and the induction of cellular differentiation. Wow!

No wonder NAC is a cornerstone in Dr. Minton's treatment of cancer. He also uses high doses of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are the cornerstone of the immune system. Once the tumor becomes recognizable to the immune system as an abnormal growth, the immune system's fighters will attack it.

The immune system must be strong enough to continue to perform its daily requirements and take on the destruction of any remaining cancer cells. We all have precancerous and cancerous cells in our bodies every day - the immune system, when fully functional, keeps these in control. When you are destroying cancer cells you need to remove the toxic waste or you will put a high unnecessary burden on your immune system. By performing the necessary detoxification of your body, you remove toxic waste, including the toxic waste of dead cancer cells. First we'll continue to look at the special supplements Dr. Minton uses, then we'll look at the needs of the immune system.

Dr. Minton also uses the polyphenol epigallocatechin-3gallate, shown to be the most active polyphenol in Green Tea, as an extract, since this is the most concentrated, powerful form. According to "The Biochemistry of Green Tea Polyphenols and their Potential Application in Human Skin Cancer", Alt Med Review 1996;1:31-42, EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) has been shown to inhibit skin tumor initiation, promotion, and progression by a number of mechanisms, including but not limited to inhibition of DNA binding by carcinogens, radical scavenging, inhibition of cytochrome P-450, maintenance of cellular communication, an inhibition of arachidonic acid metabolism. The ECGC in green tea inhibits initiation, promotion and progression! Impressive!

There are currently 599 studies of Green Tea and cancer on Pub med. Most of them address the protective/restorative effects of Green Tea, particularly the effects of ECGC. It is only recently that studies have appeared on how ECGC works.

A study was published in the Int J Oncol. 2004 mar;24(3):703-10 by the Department of Dermatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Al 35294, USA titled "EGCG down-regulates telomerase in human breast carcinoma MCF cells, leading to suppression of cell viability and induction and apoptosis".

They found that Telomerase is elevated in more than 90% of breast carcinomas. Studies have shown that (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (ECGC) from Green Tea imparts a growth inhibitory effect on cancer cells. Here we show that treatment of EGCG dose-dependently inhibited 20-100% the reproductive or colony forming potential, and also decreased cell viability at different time points studied (approximately 80% inhibition) in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells but had no adverse effect on the growth of normal mammary cells. In order to identify the possible mechanism of decreased cell viability and the induction of apoptosis in breast carcinoma cells by ECGC, we found that treatment of MCF-7 cells with ECGC dose-dependently inhibited telomerase activity (40-55%), and also inhibited the mRNA expression (40-55%) of hTERT, a catalytic subunit of telomerase. Additional studies demonstrated the ECGC also inhibited the protein expression of hTERT, which indicated that inhibition of telomerase was associated with the down-regulation of hTERT. Together, our results indicate that ECGC down-regulates telomerase in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells, leading to suppression of cell viability green tea decreased the ability of cancer cells to replicate and ECGC started the cancer cells on the pathway of cellular death, apoptosis.

An abstract from an article in Curr Pharm Des. 2004;10(11):1261-71 by the Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of cologne, 50924 Cologne, Germany titled: "Molecular Mechanisms explaining the preventative effects of catechins in the development of proliferative diseases" states, "Various growth factors.transduce their mitogenic signals through the activation of Tyrosine Kinase receptors (RTKs). Many cell culture and animal studies have shown that catechins, the main compounds of the green tea leaves, are potent natural inhibitors of several RTKs. In the present article we review the various molecular and cellular mechanisms through which catechins inhibit growth factor-RTK mediated signal transduction pathways and exert their antiproliferative/apoptic signaling pathway disruption. You know that Tyrosine Kinase is involved in the proliferation of cancer cells. This means that ECGC disrupts Tyrosine Kinase's receptors - thus interfering with the signals to the cancer cell to replicate. No growth!

In J Cell Biochem 2004 Feb. 1;91(2):232-42 an article was published from the Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA titled: "Modulation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase-B and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways by tea polyphenols in human prostate cancer cells."

This abstract, published on Pub Med, evaluated the effect of EGCG on phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (PKB) and mitogenic activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways." Our data showing the inhibition of the constitutive levels of P13k and the phosphorylation of Akt could be important because the treatment approaches should be aimed at an inhibition of the constitutive levels of P13K and Akt. Taken together, our study, for the first time demonstrates the modulation of P13k and ERK ½ pathways by EGCG." What does this mean to you? ECGC disrupts the cancer cell kinase signaling pathways. If the cancer cell can't get these signals it can't divide. If it doesn't divide, it doesn't grow.

I find it interesting how two studies from researchers physically so far apart were published so close together, both confirming ECGC's ability to modulate the tyrosine kinase signaling pathway.

Another study found a different method of cytotoxic action in green tea. The study titled "The galloyl moiety of green tea catechins is the critical structural feature to inhibit fatty-acid syntheses", published in Biochem Pharmacol. 2003 Nov 15;66(10):2039-47 from the Department of Biology, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, PR China. This study concludes that "the galloyl moiety of green tea catechins are critical in the inactivation of the ketoacyl reductase activity of FAS (fatty acid synthesis) for the first time." Inhibition of certain FAS is selectively cytotoxic to human cancer cells. China's doors were closed to the western world for so many years. I believe the study essentially says that the FAS needed by the cancer cell is stopped by ECGC, leading to cellular death.

The last of the recent studies gives a third method by which green tea acts upon cancer cells: "Tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits DNA methyltransferase and reactivates methylation-silenced genes in cancer cell lines." Important! This study, published in Cancer Res. 2003 Nov. 15;63(22):7563-70, was submitted by the Department of Chemical Biology, Ernst Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 164 Frelinghuysen Road, Pescataway, NJ 08854-8020, USA. The title says it all - ECGC reactivates previously "silenced genes" equals re-differentiation. What does this mean to you? If the genes are restored to normal function the cell lives the normal 120 day life than dies. No more immortality = No more cancer.

So now we know five ways ECGC in green tea accomplishes the destruction of cancer cells: the down-regulation of telomerase, tyrosine kinase inhibition, inhibition of cancer cell fatty-acid synthesis, and the inhibition of DNA methyltransferase and the reactivation of methylation-silenced genes: re-differentiation.

Green Tea is strong medicine.

What should you do? Drink green tea constantly; the recommended recipe is given under "recommended supplements". Also take concentrated Green Tea supplements. Visualize it doing its work in halting cancer.

Although Ellagic Acid is not specifically mentioned by Dr. Minton, I am including the information on it here as it works in ways similar to the polyphenols in Green Tea. Ellagic Acid is also a polyphenol, found in 36 different foods. It is found at 1500 mcg per gram of dry weight of raspberries; in strawberries at 630 mcg, walnuts at 590 mcg, and pecans at 330 mcg. The Meeker raspberry has the highest percentage of ellagic acid.

It lab tests, ellagic acid has been found to cause cancer cells to go through the normal cell 120 day life cycle of cells and then die - apoptosis.

Chief among the many protective roles of ellagic acid has in our bodies is that it inhibits mutagenesis and carcinogenesis by binding to DNA, thus masking binding sites that would normally be taken over by the mutagen or carcinogen. This is a slightly different process than I have described for the other substances we've been looking at. It has been shown that ellagic acid prevents the destruction of the P53 gene by cancer cells. The P53 gene is regarded as a safeguard against mutagenic activity in cervical cells.

What does this information mean to you? It means that ellagic acid prevents the cancer cells from changing the good DNA to damaged DNA. If they can't damage the DNA they can't replicate.

Ellagic acid scavenges and expels free radicals and stimulates the immune system. Ellagic acid also binds cancer causing chemicals, making them inactive. Ellagic acid activates the liver detoxification system so that these chemicals, mutagens and carcinogens are excreted. What should you do? Eat raspberries in any form you can get them - freezing or cooking does not destroy the ellagic acid. Second best source is strawberries, followed by walnuts and pecans. EAT! They found that eating a cup of raspberries stopped the growth of prostate cancer cells for a full week.