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Nathan Goodyear

Press-pulse: a novel therapeutic strategy for the metabolic management of cancer | Nutr... - 0 views

  • A “press” disturbance was considered a chronic environmental stress on all organisms in an ecological community
  • “pulse” disturbances were considered acute events that disrupted biological communities to produce high mortality
  • Neoplasia involving dysregulated cell growth is the biological endpoint of the disease
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  • Data from the American Cancer Society show that the rate of increase in cancer deaths/year (3.4%) was two-fold greater than the rate of increase in new cases/year (1.7%) from 2013 to 2017
  • cancer is predicted to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in Western societies
  • cancer can also be recognized as a metabolic disease.
  • glucose is first split into two molecules of pyruvate through the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas glycolytic pathway in the cytosol
  • Aerobic fermentation, on the other hand, involves the production of lactic acid under normoxic conditions
  • persistent lactic acid production in the presence of adequate oxygen is indicative of abnormal respiration
  • Otto Warburg first proposed that all cancers arise from damage to cellular respiration
  • The Crabtree effect is an artifact of the in vitro environment and involves the glucose-induced suppression of respiration with a corresponding elevation of lactic acid production even under hyperoxic (pO2 = 120–160 mmHg) conditions associated with cell culture
  • the Warburg theory of insufficient aerobic respiration remains as the most credible explanation for the origin of tumor cells [2, 37, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57].
  • The main points of Warburg’s theory are; 1) insufficient respiration is the predisposing initiator of tumorigenesis and ultimately cancer, 2) energy through glycolysis gradually compensates for insufficient energy through respiration, 3) cancer cells continue to produce lactic acid in the presence of oxygen, and 4) respiratory insufficiency eventually becomes irreversible
  • Efraim Racker coined the term “Warburg effect”, which refers to the aerobic glycolysis that occurs in cancer cells
  • Warburg clearly demonstrated that aerobic fermentation (aerobic glycolysis) is an effect, and not the cause, of insufficient respiration
  • all tumor cells that have been examined to date contain abnormalities in the content or composition of cardiolipin
  • The evidence supporting Warburg’s original theory comes from a broad range of cancers and is now overwhelming
  • respiratory insufficiency, arising from any number mitochondrial defects, can contribute to the fermentation metabolism seen in tumor cells.
  • data from the nuclear and mitochondrial transfer experiments suggest that oncogene changes are effects, rather than causes, of tumorigenesis
  • Normal mitochondria can suppress tumorigenesis, whereas abnormal mitochondria can enhance tumorigenesis
  • In addition to glucose, cancer cells also rely heavily on glutamine for growth and survival
  • Glutamine is anapleurotic and can be rapidly metabolized to glutamate and then to α-ketoglutarate for entry into the TCA cycle
  • Glucose and glutamine act synergistically for driving rapid tumor cell growth
  • Glutamine metabolism can produce ATP from the TCA cycle under aerobic conditions
  • Amino acid fermentation can generate energy through TCA cycle substrate level phosphorylation under hypoxic conditions
  • Hif-1α stabilization enhances aerobic fermentation
  • targeting glucose and glutamine will deprive the microenvironment of fermentable fuels
  • Although Warburg’s hypothesis on the origin of cancer has created confusion and controversy [37, 38, 39, 40], his hypothesis has never been disproved
  • Warburg referred to the phenomenon of enhanced glycolysis in cancer cells as “aerobic fermentation” to highlight the abnormal production of lactic acid in the presence of oxygen
  • Emerging evidence indicates that macrophages, or their fusion hybridization with neoplastic stem cells, are the origin of metastatic cancer cells
  • Radiation therapy can enhance fusion hybridization that could increase risk for invasive and metastatic tumor cells
  • Kamphorst et al. in showing that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells could obtain glutamine under nutrient poor conditions through lysosomal digestion of extracellular proteins
  • It will therefore become necessary to also target lysosomal digestion, under reduced glucose and glutamine conditions, to effectively manage those invasive and metastatic cancers that express cannibalism and phagocytosis.
  • Previous studies in yeast and mammalian cells show that disruption of aerobic respiration can cause mutations (loss of heterozygosity, chromosome instability, and epigenetic modifications etc.) in the nuclear genome
  • The somatic mutations and genomic instability seen in tumor cells thus arise from a protracted reliance on fermentation energy metabolism and a disruption of redox balance through excess oxidative stress.
  • According to the mitochondrial metabolic theory of cancer, the large genomic heterogeneity seen in tumor cells arises as a consequence, rather than as a cause, of mitochondrial dysfunction
  • A therapeutic strategy targeting the metabolic abnormality common to most tumor cells should therefore be more effective in managing cancer than would a strategy targeting genetic mutations that vary widely between tumors of the same histological grade and even within the same tumor
  • Tumor cells are more fit than normal cells to survive in the hypoxic niche of the tumor microenvironment
  • Hypoxic adaptation of tumor cells allows for them to avoid apoptosis due to their metabolic reprograming following a gradual loss of respiratory function
  • The high rates of tumor cell glycolysis and glutaminolysis will also make them resistant to apoptosis, ROS, and chemotherapy drugs
  • Despite having high levels of ROS, glutamate-derived from glutamine contributes to glutathione production that can protect tumor cells from ROS
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      reason to eliminate glutamine in cancer patients and even GSH with cancer patients
  • It is clear that adaptability to environmental stress is greater in normal cells than in tumor cells, as normal cells can transition from the metabolism of glucose to the metabolism of ketone bodies when glucose becomes limiting
  • Mitochondrial respiratory chain defects will prevent tumor cells from using ketone bodies for energy
  • glycolysis-dependent tumor cells are less adaptable to metabolic stress than are the normal cells. This vulnerability can be exploited for targeting tumor cell energy metabolism
  • In contrast to dietary energy reduction, radiation and toxic drugs can damage the microenvironment and transform normal cells into tumor cells while also creating tumor cells that become highly resistant to drugs and radiation
  • Drug-resistant tumor cells arise in large part from the damage to respiration in bystander pre-cancerous cells
  • Because energy generated through substrate level phosphorylation is greater in tumor cells than in normal cells, tumor cells are more dependent than normal cells on the availability of fermentable fuels (glucose and glutamine)
  • Ketone bodies and fats are non-fermentable fuels
  • Although some tumor cells might appear to oxidize ketone bodies by the presence of ketolytic enzymes [181], it is not clear if ketone bodies and fats can provide sufficient energy for cell viability in the absence of glucose and glutamine
  • Apoptosis under energy stress is greater in tumor cells than in normal cells
  • A calorie restricted ketogenic diet or dietary energy reduction creates chronic metabolic stress in the body
  • . This energy stress acts as a press disturbance
  • Drugs that target availability of glucose and glutamine would act as pulse disturbances
  • Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can also be considered another pulse disturbance
  • The KD can more effectively reduce glucose and elevate blood ketone bodies than can CR alone making the KD potentially more therapeutic against tumors than CR
  • Campbell showed that tumor growth in rats is greater under high protein (>20%) than under low protein content (<10%) in the diet
  • Protein amino acids can be metabolized to glucose through the Cori cycle
  • The fats in KDs used clinically also contain more medium chain triglycerides
  • Calorie restriction, fasting, and restricted KDs are anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, and pro-apoptotic and thus can target and eliminate tumor cells through multiple mechanisms
  • Ketogenic diets can also spare muscle protein, enhance immunity, and delay cancer cachexia, which is a major problem in managing metastatic cancer
  • GKI values of 1.0 or below are considered therapeutic
  • The GKI can therefore serve as a biomarker to assess the therapeutic efficacy of various diets in a broad range of cancers.
  • It is important to remember that insulin drives glycolysis through stimulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex
  • The water-soluble ketone bodies (D-β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate) are produced largely in the liver from adipocyte-derived fatty acids and ketogenic dietary fat. Ketone bodies bypass glycolysis and directly enter the mitochondria for metabolism to acetyl-CoA
  • Due to mitochondrial defects, tumor cells cannot exploit the therapeutic benefits of burning ketone bodies as normal cells would
  • Therapeutic ketosis with racemic ketone esters can also make it feasible to safely sustain hypoglycemia for inducing metabolic stress on cancer cells
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Ketones are much more than energy adaptabilit, but actually are therapeutic.
  • ketone bodies can inhibit histone deacetylases (HDAC) [229]. HDAC inhibitors play a role in targeting the cancer epigenome
  • Therapeutic ketosis reduces circulating inflammatory markers, and ketones directly inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome, an important pro-inflammatory pathway linked to carcinogenesis and an important target for cancer treatment response
  • Chronic psychological stress is known to promote tumorigenesis through elevations of blood glucose, glucocorticoids, catecholamines, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)
  • In addition to calorie-restricted ketogenic diets, psychological stress management involving exercise, yoga, music etc. also act as press disturbances that can help reduce fatigue, depression, and anxiety in cancer patients and in animal models
  • Ketone supplementation has also been shown to reduce anxiety behavior in animal models
  • This physiological state also enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, while reducing the side effects
  • lower dosages of chemotherapeutic drugs can be used when administered together with calorie restriction or restricted ketogenic diets (KD-R)
  • Besides 2-DG, a range of other glycolysis inhibitors might also produce similar therapeutic effects when combined with the KD-R including 3-bromopyruvate, oxaloacetate, and lonidamine
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      oxaloacetate is a glycolytic inhibitor, as is doxycycline, and IVC.
  • A synergistic interaction of the KD diet plus radiation was seen
  • It is important to recognize, however, that the radiotherapy used in glioma patients can damage the respiration of normal cells and increase availability of glutamine in the microenvironment, which can increase risk of tumor recurrence especially when used together with the steroid drug dexamethasone
  • Poff and colleagues demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) enhanced the ability of the KD to reduce tumor growth and metastasis
  • HBOT also increases oxidative stress and membrane lipid peroxidation of GBM cells in vitro
  • The effects of the KD and HBOT can be enhanced with administration of exogenous ketones, which further suppressed tumor growth and metastasis
  • Besides HBOT, intravenous vitamin C and dichloroacetate (DCA) can also be used with the KD to selectively increase oxidative stress in tumor cells
  • Recent evidence also shows that ketone supplementation may enhance or preserve overall physical and mental health
  • Some tumors use glucose as a prime fuel for growth, whereas other tumors use glutamine as a prime fuel [102, 186, 262, 263, 264]. Glutamine-dependent tumors are generally less detectable than glucose-dependent under FDG-PET imaging, but could be detected under glutamine-based PET imaging
  • GBM and use glutamine as a major fuel
  • Many of the current treatments used for cancer management are based on the view that cancer is a genetic disease
  • Emerging evidence indicates that cancer is a mitochondrial metabolic disease that depends on availability of fermentable fuels for tumor cell growth and survival
  • Glucose and glutamine are the most abundant fermentable fuels present in the circulation and in the tumor microenvironment
  • Low-carbohydrate, high fat-ketogenic diets coupled with glycolysis inhibitors will reduce metabolic flux through the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways needed for synthesis of ATP, lipids, glutathione, and nucleotides
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    Cancer is a mitochondrial disease? So says the well published Dr Seyfried. Glucose and glutamine drive cancer growth.
Nathan Goodyear

Cancer cells metabolically "fertilize" the tumor microenvironment with hydrogen peroxid... - 0 views

  • reducing oxidative stress with powerful antioxidants, is an important strategy for cancer prevention, as it would suppress one of the key early initiating steps where DNA damage and tumor-stroma metabolic-coupling begins. This would prevent cancer cells from acting as metabolic “parasites
  • Oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblasts triggers autophagy and mitophagy, resulting in compartmentalized cellular catabolism, loss of mitochondrial function, and the onset of aerobic glycolysis, in the tumor stroma. As such, cancer-associated fibroblasts produce high-energy nutrients (such as lactate and ketones) that fuel mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism in cancer cells. We have termed this new energy-transfer mechanism the “reverse Warburg effect.
  • Then, oxidative stress, in cancer-associated fibroblasts, triggers the activation of two main transcription factors, NFκB and HIF-1α, leading to the onset of inflammation, autophagy, mitophagy and aerobic glycolysis in the tumor microenvironment
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  • oxidative stress and ROS, produced in cancer-associated fibroblasts, has a “bystander effect” on adjacent cancer cells, leading to DNA damage, genomic instability and aneuploidy, which appears to be driving tumor-stroma co-evolution
  • tumor cells produce and secrete hydrogen peroxide, thereby “fertilizing” the tumor microenvironment and driving the “reverse Warburg effect.”
  • This type of stromal metabolism then produces high-energy nutrients (lactate, ketones and glutamine), as well as recycled chemical building blocks (nucleotides, amino acids, fatty acids), to literally “feed” cancer cells
  • loss of stromal caveolin (Cav-1) is sufficient to drive mitochondrial dysfunction with increased glucose uptake in fibroblasts, mimicking the glycolytic phenotype of cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • oxidative stress initiated in tumor cells is transferred to cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • Then, cancer-associated fibroblasts show quantitative reductions in mitochondrial activity and compensatory increases in glucose uptake, as well as high ROS production
  • These findings may explain the prognostic value of a loss of stromal Cav-1 as a marker of a “lethal” tumor microenvironment
  • aerobic glycolysis takes place in cancer-associated fibroblasts, rather than in tumor cells, as previously suspected.
  • our results may also explain the “field effect” in cancer biology,5 as hydrogen peroxide secreted by cancer cells, and the propagation of ROS production, from cancer cells to fibroblasts, would create an increasing “mutagenic field” of ROS production, due to the resulting DNA damage
  • Interruption of this process, by addition of catalase (an enzyme that detoxifies hydrogen peroxide) to the tissue culture media, blocks ROS activity in cancer cells and leads to apoptotic cell death in cancer cells
  • In this new paradigm, cancer cells induce oxidative stress in neighboring cancer-associated fibroblasts
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts have the largest increases in glucose uptake
  • cancer cells secrete hydrogen peroxide, which induces ROS production in cancer-associated fibroblasts
  • Then, oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblast leads to decreases in functional mitochondrial activity, and a corresponding increase in glucose uptake, to fuel aerobic glycolysis
  • cancer cells show significant increases in mitochondrial activity, and decreases in glucose uptake
  • fibroblasts and cancer cells in co-culture become metabolically coupled, resulting in the development of a “symbiotic” or “parasitic” relationship.
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts undergo aerobic glycolysis (producing lactate), while cancer cells use oxidative mitochondrial metabolism.
  • We have previously shown that oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblasts drives a loss of stromal Cav-1, due to its destruction via autophagy/lysosomal degradation
  • a loss of stromal Cav-1 is sufficient to induce further oxidative stress, DNA damage and autophagy, essentially mimicking pseudo-hypoxia and driving mitochondrial dysfunction
  • loss of stromal Cav-1 is a powerful biomarker for identifying breast cancer patients with early tumor recurrence, lymph-node metastasis, drug-resistance and poor clinical outcome
  • this type of metabolism (aerobic glycolysis and autophagy in the tumor stroma) is characteristic of a lethal tumor micro-environment, as it fuels anabolic growth in cancer cells, via the production of high-energy nutrients (such as lactate, ketones and glutamine) and other chemical building blocks
  • the upstream tumor-initiating event appears to be the secretion of hydrogen peroxide
  • one such enzymatically-active protein anti-oxidant that may be of therapeutic use is catalase, as it detoxifies hydrogen peroxide to water
  • numerous studies show that “catalase therapy” in pre-clinical animal models is indeed sufficient to almost completely block tumor recurrence and metastasis
  • by eliminating oxidative stress in cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment,55 we may be able to effectively cut off the tumor's fuel supply, by blocking stromal autophagy and aerobic glycolysis
  • breast cancer patients show systemic evidence of increased oxidative stress and a decreased anti-oxidant defense, which increases with aging and tumor progression.68–70 Chemotherapy and radiation therapy then promote further oxidative stress.69 Unfortunately, “sub-lethal” doses of oxidative stress during cancer therapy may contribute to tumor recurrence and metastasis, via the activation of myofibroblasts.
  • a loss of stromal Cav-1 is associated with the increased expression of gene profiles associated with normal aging, oxidative stress, DNA damage, HIF1/hypoxia, NFκB/inflammation, glycolysis and mitochondrial dysfunction
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts show the largest increases in glucose uptake, while cancer cells show corresponding decreases in glucose uptake, under identical co-culture conditions
  • Thus, increased PET glucose avidity may actually be a surrogate marker for a loss of stromal Cav-1 in human tumors, allowing the rapid detection of a lethal tumor microenvironment.
  • it appears that astrocytes are actually the cell type responsible for the glucose avidity.
  • In the brain, astrocytes are glycolytic and undergo aerobic glycolysis. Thus, astrocytes take up and metabolically process glucose to lactate.7
  • Then, lactate is secreted via a mono-carboxylate transporter, namely MCT4. As a consequence, neurons use lactate as their preferred energy substrate
  • both astrocytes and cancer-associated fibroblasts express MCT4 (which extrudes lactate) and MCT4 is upregulated by oxidative stress in stromal fibroblasts.34
  • In accordance with the idea that cancer-associated fibroblasts take up the bulk of glucose, PET glucose avidity is also now routinely used to measure the extent of fibrosis in a number of human diseases, including interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, postsurgical scars, keloids, arthritis and a variety of collagen-vascular diseases.
  • PET glucose avidity and elevated serum inflammatory markers both correlate with poor prognosis in breast cancers.
  • PET signal over-estimates the actual anatomical size of the tumor, consistent with the idea that PET glucose avidity is really measuring fibrosis and inflammation in the tumor microenvironment.
  • human breast and lung cancer patients can be positively identified by examining their exhaled breath for the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
  • tumor cell production of hydrogen peroxide drives NFκB-activation in adjacent normal cells in culture6 and during metastasis,103 directly implicating the use of antioxidants, NFκB-inhibitors and anti-inflammatory agents, in the treatment of aggressive human cancers.
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    Good description of the communication between cancer cells and fibroblasts.  This theory is termed the "reverse Warburg effect".
Nathan Goodyear

Frontiers | Management of Glioblastoma Multiforme in a Patient Treated With Ketogenic M... - 0 views

  • The SOC for GBM was modified in this patient to initiate KMT prior to surgical resection, to eliminate steroid medication, and to include HBOT as part of the therapy
  • the greatest therapeutic benefit for patients (near 1.0)
  • The observed reduction in blood glucose in our patient would reduce lactic acid fermentation in the tumor cells, while the elevation of ketone bodies would fuel normal cells thus protecting them from hypoglycemia and oxidative stress
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  • Previous studies showed that GBM survival and tumor growth was correlated with blood glucose levels
  • Evidence indicates that glioma cells cannot effectively use ketone bodies for energy due to defects in the number, structure, and function of their mitochondria
  • The accuracy of the GKI as a predictor for therapeutic efficacy, however, is better when ketone bodies are measured from the blood than when measured from the urine
  • A reduction of glucose-driven lactic acid fermentation would not only increase tumor cell apoptosis, but would also reduce inflammation and edema in the tumor microenvironment thus reducing tumor cell angiogenesis and invasion
  • Besides serving as a metabolic fuel for GBM, glutamine is also an essential metabolite for normal immune cells
  • therapies that inhibit glutamine availability and utilization must be strategically employed to avoid inadvertent impairment of immune cell functions
  • we used the non-toxic green tea extract, EGCG, and chloroquine in an attempt to limit glutamine availability to the tumor cells
  • EGCG is thought to target the glutamate dehydrogenase activity that facilitates glutamine metabolism in GBM cells
  • Chloroquine, on the other hand, will inhibit lysosomal digestion thus restricting fermentable amino acids and carbohydrates from phagocytosed materials in the tumor microenvironment
  • HBOT to increase oxidative stress in the tumor cells
  • As glucose and glutamine fermentation protect tumor cells from oxidative stress, reduced availability of these metabolites under ketosis could enhance the therapeutic action of HBOT, as we recently described
  • Prior to subtotal tumor resection and standard of care (SOC), the patient conducted a 72-h water-only fast
  • Following the fast, the patient initiated a vitamin/mineral-supplemented ketogenic diet (KD) for 21 days that delivered 900 kcal/day
  • KD (increased to 1,500 kcal/day at day 22
  • the patient received metformin (1,000 mg/day), methylfolate (1,000 mg/day), chloroquine phosphate (150 mg/day), epigallocatechin gallate (400 mg/day), and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) (60 min/session, 5 sessions/week at 2.5 ATA)
  • Biomarkers showed reduced blood glucose and elevated levels of urinary ketones with evidence of reduced metabolic activity (choline/N-acetylaspartate ratio) and normalized levels of insulin, triglycerides, and vitamin D
  • This is the first report of confirmed GBM treated with a modified SOC together with KMT and HBOT, and other targeted metabolic therapies
  • Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant of the primary adult brain cancers
  • less than 20% of younger adults generally survive beyond 24 months
  • glucose and glutamine are the primary fuels that drive the rapid growth of most tumors including GBM
  • Glucose drives tumor growth through aerobic fermentation (Warburg effect), while glutamine drives tumor growth through glutaminolysis
  • The fermentation waste products of these molecules, i.e., lactic acid and succinic acid, respectively, acidify the tumor microenvironment thus contributing further to tumor progression
  • Glucose and glutamine metabolism is also responsible for the high antioxidant capacity of the tumor cells thus making them resistant to chemo- and radiotherapies
  • The reliance on glucose and glutamine for tumor cell malignancy comes largely from the documented defects in the number, structure, and function of mitochondria and mitochondrial-associated membranes
  • These abnormalities cause the neoplastic GBM cells to rely more heavily on substrate level phosphorylation than on oxidative phosphorylation for energy
  • dexamethasone not only increases blood glucose levels but also increases glutamine levels through its induction of glutamine synthetase activity
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      use mannitol instead
  • Calorie restriction and restricted KD are anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-invasive, and also kill tumor cells through a proapoptotic mechanism
  • Evidence also shows that therapeutic ketosis can act synergistically with several drugs and procedures to enhance cancer management improving both progression free and overall survival
  • hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) increases oxidative stress on tumor cells especially when used alongside therapies that reduce blood glucose and raise blood ketones
  • The glutamine dehydrogenase inhibitor, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is also proposed to target glutamine metabolism
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    Case study of Glioblastoma treated with ketogenic metabolic therapy as an adjuct to modified standard therapy.
Nathan Goodyear

FDG-PET/CT imaging biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma - 0 views

  • F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT is sensitive for the diagnosis and initial staging of several types of malignancies
  • SUV is a semiquantitative measure of the normalized concentration of radioactivity in a tumor or lesion
  • As FDG is the most common radiotracer used clinically and reflects tumor glucose metabolism, SUV is used as a surrogate marker for tumor metabolism.
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  • primary tumor SUVmax >10 predicted survival, independent of the tumor stage and diameter
  • advanced tumors tend to have higher FDG uptake (and thus higher SUV values)
  • the impact of the SUV on treatment outcome has been observed even within a given tumor stage
  • The association between FDG uptake and tumor burden or stage has been well documented
  • FDG uptake not only reflects tumor burden/stage but also expresses, at least in part, some intrinsic biologic characteristic(s) of the tumor
  • SUVmax reflects the highest voxel value within the ROI or VOI. It is the most widely used parameter to measure metabolic tumor activity in oncologic FDG-PET/CT imaging
  • Several studies suggest that primary tumor baseline SUVmax also has predictive value in assessing the tumor burden, lymph node involvement and local extension
  • According to EORTC, a drop (delta between baseline and post-therapy) of 15–25% in SUVmax may represent a good treatment response
  • PERCIST criteria was proposed by the investigators at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and suggested that a decrease in SUV normalized to lean body mass of at least 30% should be achieved before considering partial tumor response
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    Good review of PET/CT scan and MaxSUV in head and neck cancers.
Nathan Goodyear

Nuclear TK1 expression is an independent prognostic factor for survival in pre-malignan... - 0 views

  • Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is a proliferation biomarker
  • Nuclear TK1 expression in early grade CIN predicts risk for progression to malignancy
  • Nuclear TK1 expression is also a prognostic factor for treatment outcome
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  • TK1 LI was found to be a more reliable prognostic marker for 5-year survival than pathological stages, FIGO stages and Ki-67,
  • nuclear TK1 expression is a reliable prognostic factor in CIN patients, a group of cervical lesion patients that respond positively to treatment
  • nuclear TK1 expression is correlated with advanced stage of invasive cervical carcinomas
  • a low TK1 LI can help to identify with a better survival
  • low TK1 expression in the tumors in these patients might indicate that these tumors have a lower proliferation rate
  • TK1 is a key kinase in the one-step salvage pathway by which thymidine is introduced into DNA via the salvage pathway
  • TK1 participates in DNA synthesis and is therefore closely related to the S-phase of the cell cycle, and is correlated with proliferation
  • TK1 intensity (TK1 synthesis rate) increases from CIN grade I to CIN grade III, but does not further increase in invasive cervical carcinomas.
  • TK1 intensity seems to be a prognostic factor particularly when pre-malignant cervical lesions progress to malignancy
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    TK-1 is a proliferation biomarker of DNA repair. TK-1 is a nuclear biomarker of cancer prognosis, survival, recurrence and predicts risk of progression of pre-malignant disease.
Nathan Goodyear

Association between endogenous sex steroid hormones and inflammatory biomarkers in US men - 0 views

  • modest statistically significant inverse associations for total and calculated free testosterone, and modest positive associations for total and calculated free estradiol with CRP concentration
  • Estradiol concentrations were also weakly positively associated with WBC count
  • SHBG was weakly inversely associated with WBC
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  • An association between testosterone and WBC count was not observed
  • These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that in men higher androgen concentration is anti-inflammatory, and higher estrogen concentration is pro-inflammatory.
  • the probability of elevated CRP concentrations (≥ 3 mg/L) decreased with higher total and calculated free testosterone concentrations, while the probability increased with higher total and calculated free estradiol concentrations
  • there is ample evidence supporting the immunosuppressive effect of androgens
  • The incidence of autoimmune diseases is higher in androgen-deficient men
  • Studies have shown that the induction of hypogonadism in older men is followed by a significant increase in IL-6 concentrations (Khosla et al. 2002), a potent stimulator of inflammation, and that activation of the androgen receptor exerts a direct anti-inflammatory effect
  • It has been suggested that the mechanisms for the immunosuppressive effect of androgens could be either a direct effect on the expression of inflammatory genes (Bellido et al. 1995; Asirvatham et al. 2006), or an indirect effect through inhibition of nuclear factor-kB activation
  • Estradiol is the major biologically active estrogen, and about 80% is formed in adult men from the aromatization of testosterone primarily in the adipose tissue
  • estrogen can stimulate the transcription factor C/EBP-β, which is involved in CRP transcription
  • Most prior cross-sectional studies have observed inverse associations between androgen concentrations and inflammatory biomarkers
  • A recent study in Chinese men showed that lower concentrations of total and calculated free testosterone were associated with higher CRP concentration
  • Data from the Boston Area Community Health Survey also reported inverse associations between testosterone and CRP concentrations
  • Total testosterone was inversely associated with WBC count (Tang et al. 2007; Schneider et al. 2009; Brand et al. 2012), but calculated free testosterone was not associated with WBC
  • The first trial found a decrease in CRP, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) but no changes in IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations between the active treatment and placebo arms
  • the majority of studies in the literature have not observed statistically significant associations between estradiol and inflammatory biomarkers in men, although several of them observed point estimates in the positive direction
  • total testosterone and estradiol compete for binding to SHBG, and seem to have opposite effects on the concentration of inflammatory biomarkers
  • A small randomized controlled trial of estrogen replacement therapy in prostate cancer patients showed an increase in CRP in the active treatment group versus the comparator group
  • Obese men are known to have lower androgen concentrations compared to their normal-weight counterparts
  • The strongest suggestion of an interaction was the inverse association between androstanediol glucuronide and CRP concentrations in obese participants, while the association was positive in the non-obese
  • A recent Chinese cross-sectional study observed stronger inverse associations between total testosterone and CRP concentrations in individuals with a BMI of 27.5 kg/m2 or greater
  • our results suggest that total and calculated free testosterone are modestly inversely associated with CRP concentrations, and that total and calculated free estradiol are modestly positively associated with CRP and WBC
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    Study results suggest that higher Testosterone and lower Estrogen levels provide anti-inflammatory effects in men.  The inflammatory biomarker assessed here was CRP.  Low total and calculated free Testosterone was associated with an increase in CRP.  In contrast, total and free Estrogen was associated with an increase in CRP.  Estradiol increased WBC count and SHBG was inversely related to WBC count in this study.
Nathan Goodyear

High D-dimer levels are associated with poor prognosis in cancer patients - 0 views

  • a systemic activation of blood coagulation and procoagulant changes in the hemostatic system have frequently been observed in cancer patients, even in the absence of venous thromboembolism
  • Thrombin is a pivotal enzyme in the process of blood coagulation and leads to the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin, which is the end product of blood coagulation and finally results in the formation of a fibrin clot
  • deposition of fibrin, which has an important role in the formation of tumor stroma and hematogenous spread of tumor cells.
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  • The interaction of fibrin, platelets and tumor cells leads to the formation of platelet-fibrin-tumor-cell aggregates that promote endothelial adhesion and metastatic spread, as well as tumor cell growth and tumor cell survival
  • fibrin degradation products have been shown to display strong angiogenic properties
  • D-dimer is a biomarker that globally indicates the activation of hemostasis and fibrinolysis
  • It is a degradation product of fibrin
  • high D-dimer levels were reported to be predictive of the occurrence of VTE in cancer patients
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    elevated D-Dimer associated with poor prognosis in cancer. Good review of cancer and ehmostasis.
Nathan Goodyear

The glucose ketone index calculator: a simple tool to monitor therapeutic efficacy for ... - 0 views

  • The ‘Glucose Ketone Index’ (GKI) was created to track the zone of metabolic management for brain tumor management
  • The GKI is a biomarker that refers to the molar ratio of circulating glucose over β-OHB, which is the major circulating ketone body.
  • We present evidence showing that the GKI can predict success for brain cancer management in humans and mice using metabolic therapies that lower blood glucose and elevate blood ketone levels
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  • The GKI can be useful in determining the success of dietary therapies that shift glucose- and lactate-based metabolism to ketone-based metabolism
  • Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, chronic inflammatory disease, and epilepsy
  • The zone of metabolic management is likely entered with GKI values between 1 and 2 for humans
  • Optimal management is predicted for values approaching 1.0, and blood glucose and ketone values should be measured 2–3 hours postprandial, twice a day if possible
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      check GKI 2-3 hr postprandial twice daily
  • Preclinical studies have demonstrated a clear linkage between GKI and therapeutic efficacy
  • the Warburg effect (aerobic fermentation of glucose) is a common metabolic malady expressed in nearly all neoplastic cells of these and other malignant tumors
  • Aerobic fermentation (Warburg effect) is necessary to compensate for the insufficiency of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in the cells of most tumors
  • Normal brain cells gradually transition from the metabolism of glucose to the metabolism of ketone bodies (primarily β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate) for energy when circulating glucose levels become limiting
  • Ketone bodies bypass the glycolytic pathway in the cytoplasm and are metabolized directly to acetyl CoA in the mitochondria
  • Tumor cells are less capable than normal cells in metabolizing ketone bodies for energy due to their mitochondrial defects
  • daily activities and emotional stress can cause blood glucose levels to vary making it difficult for some people to enter the predicted zone of metabolic management
  • a clear association of the GKI to the therapeutic action of calorie restriction against distal invasion, proliferation, and angiogenesis in the VM-M3 model of glioblastoma
  • The results suggest that GKI levels that approach 1.0 are therapeutic for managing brain tumor growth
  • Therapeutic efficacy of the KD or calorie restriction is greater with lower GKI values than with higher values
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    The glucose ketone index shown to predict dietary metabolic success. In humans with brain cancer-- the target is 1.  The glucose and ketone (betahydroxybutyrate) should be measured 2-3 hours postprandial twice daily.
Nathan Goodyear

Broad targeting of angiogenesis for cancer prevention and therapy - 0 views

  • vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), interleukin-8 (IL-8), placental growth factor (PlGF), transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), angiopoietins (Angs) and others (reviewed in [4])
  • The switch may also involve down-regulation of endogenous inhibitors of angiogenesis such as endostatin, angiostatin or thrombospondin (reviewed in [5]) and has thus been regarded as the result of tipping the net balance between positive and negative regulators
  • There is a complex interrelationship between tumor hypoxia and tumor angiogenesis
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  • chronic hypoxia
  • acute hypoxia
  • Environmental stress as a result of low oxygen and proper nutrient deprivation, such as glucose deprivation, are capable of inducing VEGF mRNA stabilization resulting in increased levels of the secreted ligand and angiogenic growth
  • HIFalpha subunits accumulate in the cytoplasm where they bind HIFbeta to form a heterodimer that subsequently translocates to the nucleus to activate transcription of target genes, including genes important for various processes such as metabolism (glucose transporter (GLUT)-1, hexokinase (HK)-1), cell growth (cyclin (CCN)-D1 [23]) and also angiogenesis, such as erythropoietin, VEGF and PDGF [24] (summarized in Fig. 1)
  • When oxygen levels are low (hypoxia; red arrow) PHDs cannot hydroxylate HIFalphas thereby allowing them to escape pVHL-mediated degradation. HIFalpha subunits accumulate and bind to their heterodimeric partner, HIFbeta, translocate into the nucleus and activate a cascade of hypoxic signaling first by the transcription of various target genes including microRNAs that are important for tumor promoting pathways
  • c-Src is also capable of activating HIFs by indirectly inhibiting PHD activity via the NADPH oxidase/Rac pathway.
  • mTOR can also promote stabilization and HIF transcriptional activity
  • hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs), heterodimeric transcription factors composed from alpha and beta subunits, which can be rapidly stabilized to fluidly adapt to and overcome the effects of a hypoxic environment
  • Curcumin inhibits the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3, and the kinase activity of Src and FAK, which are responsible for the induction of angiogenic genes as well as endothelial cell polarity and migration
  • Curcumin also reduces the MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression, along with the suppression of growth and invasion potential of tumor cells in culture and xenograft experiments
  • The expression of angiogenic biomarkers COX-2 and serum levels of VEGF were significantly reduced in the curcumin-treated group
  • Resveratrol inhibits capillary endothelial cell growth and new blood vessel growth in animals
  • interrupting cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis
  • [155] and impeding angiogenesis by suppressing VEGF expression through down-regulation of HIF-1alpha
  • resveratrol was reported to inhibit cell proliferation of human ovarian cancer cells and human osteosarcoma cells by attenuating HIF-1alpha
  • prevents cytokine-induced vascular leakage and tumor metastasis
  • The underlying molecular mechanisms include: blocking VEGF- and FGF-receptor-mediated MAPK activation, inhibiting Akt- and MAPK-driven HIF-1alpha basal expression and its induction by IGF-1, stimulating the proteasomal degradation of HIF-1alpha, inhibiting phosphatidyl inositol (PI)-3K/Akt and Ras/mitogen/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK)/ERK pathways, and activation of forkhead box (FOX)O transcription factors
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    natural compounds to attach cancer explained.
Nathan Goodyear

Oxidative Stress and Its Relationship With Adenosine Deaminase Activity in Various Stag... - 0 views

  • Reduced SOD activity might be responsible for excessive accumulation of superoxide anions leading to increased free radical mediated injury. Increased free radical production has been shown to be responsible for chromosomal damage leading to mutagenecity, cell proliferation and carcinogenesis. SOD activity showed marked improvement after mastectomy indicating the lowering of oxidative stress.
  • The increased production of reactive oxygen species causes oxidative stress leading to cell proliferation and hence increased inflammatory conditions
  • Superoxide dismutase is an important antioxidant enzyme which decomposes the harmful superoxide anions into hydrogen peroxide thus protects the body from the action of free radicals
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  • Females suffering from breast cancer had significantly decreased Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in comparison to normal females
  • ADA seems to be a promising marker of inflammation in breast cancer thereby suggesting that it can be used as a diagnostic tool to detect the stage of breast cancer along with cytopathological studies
  • In conclusion, our study confirmed the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.
  • Another potent antioxidant molecule is reduced glutathione. It acts as reductant which converts hydrogen peroxide into water and reduces lipid peroxidation products into their corresponding alcohols and thus mediates protective action.
  • In the present study, significantly low SOD activity has been observed in female patients suffering from carcinoma breast both pre as well as post operative in comparison to healthy females.
  • We observed significantly decreased SOD activity and GSH levels in patients belonging to clinical stage 4 as compared to those having stages 1, 2 or 3 of breast cancer.
  • Increased ADA activity in breast cancer patients has also been reported
  • The compromised antioxidant defence system produces the oxidative stress which in turn creates the inflammatory response shown by concomitant increased adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in female patients.
  • Experimental and epidemiological evidences implicate the involvement of oxygen derived free radical in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.
  • Antioxidant status was highly depressed in advanced stages of breast cancer as compared to initial stage.
  • In the present study, significantly low GSH levels were observed in female patients of carcinoma breast as compared to normal females
  • Walia et al. (1995) reported increased ADA activity in breast cancer patients as compared to age matched normal subjects.
  • These free radicals are able to cause damage to membrane, mitochondria and macromolecules including proteins, lipids and DNA and actively take part in cell proliferation. This cascade in turn generates the inflammatory response and causes the progression of the disease.
  • increased oxidative stress gives rise to inflammation which could further aggravates the disease
  • Breast carcinoma involves a cascade of events that are highly inflammatory.
  • Marked oxidative stress in stage 4 of breast cancer indicated advancement of the disease, hence checking oxidative stress at initial stage could be helpful for controlling the progression of the disease.
  • They concluded that ADA is a better probable parameter for detection of breast cancer
  • Adenosine deaminase enzyme (ADA) catalyzes the conversion of adenosine to inosine which finally gets converted to uric acid
  • serum ADA activity tends to increase with advancing age,
  • Prevalence of oxidative stress gives rise to inflammation.
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    Study finds a reduction in SuperOxide Dismutase and Glutathione Perioxidase in advancing breast cancer.  Cancer is a high oxidative stress disease that results in inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction and proliferation.  Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) is proposed to be another biomarker to assess tumor stage.  
Nathan Goodyear

Adiponectin: A Risk Biomarker and Attractive Target for Chemoprevention - 0 views

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    adiponectin suggested to be a breast cancer tumor marker in premenopausal women.
Nathan Goodyear

microRNA Expression in Ethnic Specific Early Stage Breast Cancer: an Integration and Co... - 0 views

  • dysregulated miRNA could be involved in tumor cell proliferation and growth as well as cell cycle progression
  • under-expression of miR-497, 376c and 1271 in Lebanese breast cancer tissues
  • The upregulated miR-183 in our samples was predicted to be responsible for the decrease in expression of the BTG1 mRNA whose protein is involved in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in breast cancer cells18.
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  • nother molecule related to cell proliferation that was over-expressed in our data and suggested as a target of downregulated miR-376c is AURKA
  • the over-expression of miR-183 and miR-21 in Lebanese breast cancer tissues is consistent with downregulation of two important tumor suppressor predicted targets: AKAP12 whose protein regulates cellular adhesion dynamics by controlling cytoskeletal architecture, cell migration, and mitogenic signaling20; and LATS2 whose protein causes cell cycle arrest
  • dysregulation in cancer particularly in breast cancer highlights their importance in tumor development
  • mRNA-miRNA integration analysis of early breast cancer revealed a potential role of miRNA in increasing cellular proliferation and progression, and decreasing invasion and migration
  • most of the miRNA dysregulated in Lebanese breast cancer patients are similar to those dysregulated in American patients, differences in miRNA expression exist and could be attributed either to the patients’ age at diagnosis or to ethnic variation in miRNA epigenetic regulation and sequence variation of pre-miRNA
  • the number one cancer killer of women worldwide
  • microRNA (miRNA) are small non-coding 18–25 nucleotide RNA molecules currently being studied as potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers for cancer and other diseases
  • Extensive research on these post-transcriptional modulators has proven that they are deregulated in breast cancerous tissues and even in biological fluids from breast cancer patients
  • five candidate miRNAs (miR-10b, miR-148b, miR-221, miR-21, and miR-155)
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    Epigenetics plays a role, via disregulated miRNA, in increased cell growth, progression, and invasion in Lebanese women with breast cancer.  It is not just genetics that play a role, but epigenetics.
Nathan Goodyear

Oncotarget | NADH autofluorescence, a new metabolic biomarker for cancer stem cells: Id... - 0 views

  • Vitamin C was ~10 times more potent than 2-DG for the targeting of CSCs
  • Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) are thought to be the root cause of chemotherapy-resistance and radio-resistance
  • ultimately leading to treatment failure in patients with advanced disease [1-3]. They have been directly implicated mechanistically in tumor recurrence and metastasis, resulting in poor patient survival
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  • mitochondrial biogenesis may be a key driver of the CSC phenotype
  • Our results indicate that increased mitochondrial oxidative stress and high NADH levels are both key characteristics of the CSC metabolic phenotype
  • high levels of NAD(P)H auto-fluorescence are known to be a surrogate marker for mitochondrial “power”, high OXPHOS capacity and increased ATP production
  • CSCs may be strictly dependent on NAD(P)H to maintain their enhanced mitochondrial function
  • an intact NAD+ salvage pathway is strictly required for mammosphere formation, supporting our results using NAD(P)H auto-fluorescence, which enriched CSC activity by more than 5-fold.
  • Since glycolysis is especially critical for maintaining the TCA cycle, OXPHOS and overall mitochondrial function, we next assessed the effects of known glycolytic inhibitors
  • we show that two other natural products that function as effective glycolysis inhibitors, also inhibited mammosphere formation. More specifically, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which induces oxidative stress and inhibits the activity of GAPDH (a key glycolytic enzyme) [17], also inhibited mammosphere formation, with an IC-50 of 1 mM (Figure 7B). Therefore, vitamin C was ~10 times more potent than 2-DG at targeting CSC propagation
  • silibinin (the major active constituent of silymarin, an extract of milk thistle seeds) [18], which specifically functions as an inhibitor of glucose uptake, blocked mammosphere formation, with an IC-50 between 200 and 400 µM
  • caffeic acid phenyl ester (CAPE), a key component of honey-bee propolis, has potent anti-cancer properties
  • Propolis has a strong history of medicinal use, dating back more than 2,000 years
  • Because of it aromatic ring structure (Figure 8), we speculated that CAPE might function as a potent inhibitor of oxidative mitochondrial metabolism
  • CAPE quantitatively inhibits the mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and, in turn, induces the onset of aerobic glycolysis (ECAR)
  • CAPE shows a clear selectivity for targeting CSCs and adherent cancer cells, relative to normal fibroblasts.
  • CAPE functions as a “natural” mitochondrial OXPHOS inhibitor, that preferentially targets the CSC sub-population. This could explain CAPE’s known anti-cancer properties
  • Our data directly shows that a small fraction of the total cell population, characterized by increased PGC1α activity, high mitochondrial ROS/H2O2 and high NADH levels, has the ability to survive and grow under anchorage-independent conditions, driving mammosphere formation
  • We highlight the utility of certain natural products, such as Silibinin, Vitamin C and CAPE, that could be used to therapeutically target CSCs. Silibinin is the major active component of silymarin, which is an extract prepared from milk thistle seeds.
  • high NADH is a property that is conserved between normal and cancerous stem cells
  • Previous studies have also shown that when non-CSCs and CSCs are both fed mitochondrial fuels (such as L-lactate or ketone bodies), that CSCs quantitatively produce more NADH in response to this stimulus
  • CSCs may be strictly dependent on NADH to maintain their enhanced mitochondrial function
  • The Noble Prize winner, Linus Pauling, was among the first to describe and clinically test the efficacy of Vitamin C, as a relatively non-toxic anti-cancer agent
  • Vitamin C has two mechanisms of action. First, it is a potent pro-oxidant, that actively depletes the reduced glutathione pool, leading to cellular oxidative stress and apoptosis in cancer cells. Moreover, it also behaves as an inhibitor of glycolysis, by targeting the activity of GAPDH, a key glycolytic enzyme.
  • Here, we show that Vitamin C can also be used to target the CSC population, as it is an inhibitor of energy metabolism that feeds into the mitochondrial TCA cycle and OXPHOS
  • Vitamin C may prove to be promising agent for new clinical trials, aimed at testing its ability to reduce CSC activity in cancer patients, as an add-on to more conventional therapies, to prevent tumor recurrence, further disease progression and metastasis
  • Interestingly, a breast cancer based clinical study has already shown that the use of Vitamin C, concurrent with or within 6 months of chemotherapy, significantly reduces both tumor recurrence and patient mortality
  • CAPE quantitatively reduces mitochondrial oxygen consumption (OCR), while inducing a reactive increase in glycolysis (ECAR). As such, it potently inhibits mammosphere formation with an IC-50 of ~2.5 µM. Similarly, it also significantly inhibits cell migration
  • we also demonstrate that 7 different inhibitors of key energetic pathways can be used to effectively block CSC propagation, including three natural products (silibinin, ascorbic acid and CAPE). Future studies will be necessary to test their potential for clinical benefit in cancer patients.
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    The future of cancer therapy is cancer stem cells.  Study finds that Vitamin C, silymarin, and bee propolis blocks mitochondrial energy pathways in cancer stem cells.  Vitamin C is a known glycolytic inhbitor. Vitamin C was found to inhibit glycolysis via GAPDH targeting to inhibit the energy pathways of the mitochondria in CSCs.  The authors propse that Vitamin C can be used as add on therapies for conventional therapies to specifically attack the CSCs and their contribution to recrurence, treatment resistance, and metastasis potential all in addition to the ability of vitamin C to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.
Nathan Goodyear

Dietary Weight Loss and Exercise Effects on Serum Biomarkers of Angiogenesis in Overwei... - 0 views

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    only abstract available here.  Weight loss, through diet and exercise, decreased proteins important to tumor angiogenesis; thus weight loss associated with a reduction in VEGF, PEDF, and PAI-1 may reduce cancer risk, particularly in the overweight and obese. This is all the result of inflammation originating from obesity.
Nathan Goodyear

http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/25/3A/1539.full.pdf - 0 views

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    No correlation between SCC, CEA and CYFRA 21-1 found in metastatic head and neck cancer.
Nathan Goodyear

International Journal of Impotence Research - Obesity, low testosterone levels and erec... - 0 views

  • Studies have shown that ED may be an early biomarker of general endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis and CVD
  • testosterone treatment of hypogonadal young and older men improves sexual function, increases lean mass and decreases fat mass
  • In men with low serum testosterone (for example, <8 or 230 nmol l−1) with obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus, treatment with testosterone is warranted
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  • In obese middle-aged men, testosterone treatment reduced visceral adipocity, insulin resistance, serum cholesterol and glucose levels
  • testosterone replacement has a favorable impact on body mass, insulin secretion and sensitivity, lipid profile and blood pressure in hypogonadal men with the metabolic syndrome as well as type 2 diabetes mellitus
  • Testosterone significantly inhibits lipoprotein lipase activity, which reduces triglycerides uptake into adipocytes in the abdominal adipose tissue
  • testosterone treatment decreased endogenous inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α and IL-1β) and lipids (total cholesterol) and increased IL-10 in hypogonadal men
  • Testosterone treatment reduced leptin and adiponectin levels in hypogonadal type 2 diabetic men after 3 months of testosterone replacement
  • available data clearly show a relationship between obesity, low testosterone levels and ED
  • Obesity adversely affects endothelial function and lowers serum testosterone levels through the development of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome
  • Metabolic disturbances as well as production of cytokines and adipokines by inflamed fat cells may be causal factors in the development of ED
  • The onset of ED and the associated risk of CVD may be delayed through lifestyle modifications that affect obesity, such as diet and exercise
  • Very low testosterone levels contribute to the development of ED in obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus
  • Obesity is associated with low total testosterone levels that can be explained at least partially by lower sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in obese men
  • epidemiological studies have shown a negative correlation between BMI and total testosterone and to a lesser extent with free and bioavailable (biologically active) testosterone levels
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    Obesity is associated with low Testosterone and ED in men.
Nathan Goodyear

Effect of high-dose intravenous vitamin C on inflammation in cancer patients - 0 views

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    IV vitamin C reduces inflammation in cancer patients, primarily measure through CRP. 
Nathan Goodyear

The Role of Vitamin C in Human Immunity and Its Treatment Potential Against COVID-19: A... - 0 views

  • vitamins A, B, C, E, B6, B12, folate, zinc, iron, copper, and selenium
  • White blood cells, including neutrophils and monocytes, accumulate concentrations of vitamin C up to 100 times greater than that of plasma
  • Vitamin C is a crucial component of both the innate (nonspecific) and adaptive (specific) portions of the immune system
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  • play a role during the initial chemotactic response of neutrophils shortly after infection
  • following vitamin C supplementation, a 20% increase in neutrophil chemotactic activity was observed
  • also contributes to the phagocytosis and killing of microbes by neutrophils
  • low levels of vitamin C occurring in high-stress situations
  • maturation, proliferation, and viability of T cells have all been shown to be upregulated by the presence of normal physiologic concentrations of vitamin C
  • Vitamin C has been shown to directly affect the number of Igs released from B cells
  • vitamin C among healthy young adult males showed a significant increase in serum levels of IgA, IgG, and IgM
  • effects of high-dose vitamin C on cytokine levels in cancer patients, finding decreased amounts of the cytokines Interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), IL-2, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) after high-dose vitamin C infusion
  • when vitamin C was supplemented with vitamin E in healthy adults, it increased the production of cytokines IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha
  • vitamin C acts to modulate the levels of cytokines to prevent them from fluctuating in either direction
  • vitamin C also acts as an important antioxidant to the cells of the immune system.
  • human leukocytes, neutrophils, in particular, possess the ability to transport the oxidized form of vitamin C across its membrane to use as a defense mechanism against ROS produced during an immune response
  • Vitamin C also can recover other endogenous antioxidants in the body such as vitamin E and glutathione, returning them to their active state
  • vitamin C can decrease the activation of NF-kB
  • can reduce harmful nitrogen-based compounds such as N-nitrosamines and nitrosamides, both of which are carcinogenic 
  • subjects taking oral vitamin C supplementation saw a 60% to 90% reduction in oxidative stress compared to a placebo control
  • subjects infused with vitamin C alone had a 516% increase in glutathione levels compared to subjects not provided the 500 mg daily supplementation
  • hydroxylating proline and lysine
  • mature and stabilize the tissue of a healing wound
  • healing
  • oral surgery
  • improved soft tissue regeneration
  • vitamin C increases the mRNA levels of type I and type III collagen in the human dermis
  • Studies have demonstrated that those with low levels of vitamin C are at a significantly higher risk of respiratory infection compared to those with normal levels
  • viral cold duration was reduced by about 8% in adults and 13.5% in children using prophylactic daily doses of 200 mg of oral vitamin C
  • prophylactically supplementing vitamin C decreases the risk of infection with respiratory viruses such as the common cold
  • combined with probiotics, oral vitamin C supplementation showed a 33% decrease in the incidence of respiratory tract infections in preschool-age children [
  • high-dose oral supplementation of vitamin C managed to prevent or reduce symptoms if taken before or just after the onset of cold- or flu-like symptoms
  • improvements in oxygen saturation and decreased IL-6 levels (a marker of inflammation) in the treatment group compared to the control group
  • 8 g doses of oral vitamin C
  • there is a negative correlation between age and serum levels of vitamin C
  • Patients with COVID-19 will likely also experience depletion in serum levels of vitamin C as a direct result of the upregulation of the immune system to combat the infection
  • Colunga et al. suggested that oral vitamin C can be combined with oral Quercetin, an antiviral flavonoid, to improve Quercetin’s ability to block viral membrane fusion of SARS-CoV-2
  • high doses of 1-2 g/day of oral vitamin C could prevent other upper respiratory infections
  • It appears vitamin C supplementation by itself does not provide a striking benefit in preventing COVID-19 infection for those without a deficiency
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Flawed statement. What is normal? Vitamin D. Many variables effect levels and dose, including the two compartment kinetics and absorption.
  • Hiedra et al. were able to show decreases in inflammatory biomarkers, such as D-dimer and ferritin
  • some evidence to support that prophylactic use of vitamin C helps reduce the severity of respiratory infection symptoms once a subject has already been infected
  • oral vitamin C in combination with zinc provided the largest amount of antibody titers 42 days
  • linear relationship between days of vitamin C therapy and survival duration
  • other studies were unable to find any definitive improvement concerning therapy with vitamin C
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Either these studies are designed to fail or the authors are lacking some basic understanding of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics with vitamin C.
  • Fowler et al. aimed to see if a high-dose vitamin C infusion would benefit patients affected by ARDS, but they were unable to conclude that vitamin C infusion, compared to a placebo, could decrease vascular inflammation and damage in ARDS
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      At what dose, duration, frequency???
  • in a sample of 67 COVID-19-positive ICU patients, 82% of them displayed plasma vitamin C levels below 0.4 mg/dL
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      They are kind of make the point from my earlier note.
  • continuous vitamin C infusion at a rate of 60 mg/kg/day for four days decreased the need for mechanical ventilation and vasopressor use but had no significant effect on overall mortality
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Again, designed to fail or ignorance designed the study which failed
  • Carr et al. suggested that high-dose IV vitamin C is most effective when treating sepsis as septic patients receiving the normal daily recommendations through diet still showed decreased vitamin C levels
  • High-dose IV vitamin C treatment has also been shown by Kakodkar et al. to decrease syndecan-1, an endothelial glycocalyx that contributes to mortality in septic patients
  • combined with hydrocortisone and thiamine, septic patients treated with 1.5 g of IV vitamin C every six hours showed a distinct decrease in their SOFA scores and none of the patients treated developed organ failure
  • combined with hydrocortisone and thiamine, septic patients treated with 1.5 g of IV vitamin C every six hours showed a distinct decrease in their SOFA scores and none of the patients treated developed organ failure
  • reduced overall mortality
  • reduced overall mortality
  • propose the use for high-dose vitamin C to aid in the treatment of septic shock-induced hypotension
  • treatment of severe sepsis using a high dose (up to 200 mg/kg/day) of IV vitamin C was explored in phase I, a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial by Fowler et al. [75]. Their findings included a reduction in SOFA scores and decreased vascular injury compared to a placebo control group, all while showing minimal adverse side effects
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      High dose here is laughable. Again, duration and frequency also.
  • Maintaining a daily intake of 75 and 100 mg for men and women, respectively, as recommended by the U.S. Institute of Medicine
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This recommendation is FRANK IGNORANCE
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