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As GcMAF therapy progressed the MAF precursor activity of all five patients increased and their serum Nagalase activity decreased inversely

As GcMAF therapy progressed, the MAF precursor activity increased with a concomitant decrease in serum Nagalase activity

serum Nagalase is proportional to tumor burden

as GcMAF therapy progressed, serum Nagalase activity decreased and, concomitantly, tumor burden decreased

the serum Nagalase activities of all 16 patients decreased as GcMAF therapy progressed

annual computed tomographic scans of these patients confirmed them being tumor recurrence-free for the 7 years

undifferentiated cells were killed rapidly during the first few weeks, and the differentiated cells were killed slowly in the remaining GcMAF therapeutic period

PSA levels of prostatectomized patients decreased as serum Nagalase decreased during GcMAF therapy

In patients without tumor resection, however, although serum Nagalase activity decreased as GcMAF therapy progressed, their PSA values remained unchanged. The result suggests that the PSA derived from tumor-bearing prostate did not change while tumor burden decreased. Because tumor-induced inflammation in the noncancerous prostate tissues causes secretion of PSA [38], the PSA produced from these inflamed noncancerous prostate tissues cannot be changed by the decrease in tumor burden

Advanced cancer patients have high serum Nagalase activities, resulting in no macrophage activation and severe immunosuppression that explain why cancer patients die with overwhelming infection

Prognostic utility of serum α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase and immunosuppression resulted from deglycosylation of serum Gc protein in oral cancer patients

doxycycline can improve this to some extent by increasing bone formation

the current study clearly demonstrates the benefit of doxycycline when administered from the time of the development of the tumor

In conclusion, doxycycline greatly reduced tumor burden and could also compensate for the increased bone resorption frequently associated with bone metastasis from breast cancer

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

kisspeptin has emerged as one of the most potent secretagogues of GNRH release

Consistent with the hypothesis that obesity-mediated inhibition of kisspeptin signalling contributes to the suppression of the HPT axis, infusion of a bioactive kisspeptin fragment has been recently shown to robustly increase LH pulsatility, LH levels and circulating testosterone in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes

Figure 4

Interestingly, a recent 16-week study of experimentally induced hypogonadism in healthy men with graded testosterone add-back either with or without concomitant aromatase inhibitor treatment has in fact suggested that low oestradiol (but not low testosterone) may be responsible for the hypogonadism-associated increase in total body and intra-abdominal fat mass

A smaller study with a similar experimental design found that acute testosterone withdrawal reduced insulin sensitivity independent of body weight, whereas oestradiol withdrawal had no effects

Obesity and dysglycaemia and associated comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnoea (Hoyos et al. 2012b) are important contributors to the suppression of the HPT axis

This is supported by observational studies showing that weight gain and development of diabetes accelerate the age-related decline in testosterone

Weight loss can reactivate the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis

The hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis remains responsive to treatment with aromatase inhibitors or selective oestrogen receptor modulators in obese men

Kisspeptin treatment increases LH secretion, pulse frequency and circulating testosterone levels in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes

Several observational and randomised studies reviewed in Grossmann (2011) have shown that weight loss, whether by diet or surgery, leads to substantial increases in testosterone, especially in morbidly obese men

This suggests that weight loss can lead to genuine reactivation of the gonadal axis by reversal of obesity-associated hypothalamic suppression

There is pre-clinical and observational evidence that chronic hyperglycaemia can inhibit the HPT axis

in those men in whom glycaemic control worsened, testosterone decreased

successful weight loss combined with optimisation of glycaemic control may be sufficient to normalise circulating testosterone levels in the majority of such men

weight loss, optimisation of diabetic control and assiduous care of comorbidities should remain the first-line approach.

In part, the discrepant results may be due to the fact men in the Vigen cohort (Vigen et al. 2013) had a higher burden of comorbidities. Given that one (Basaria et al. 2010), but not all (Srinivas-Shankar et al. 2010), RCTs in men with a similarly high burden of comorbidities reported an increase in cardiovascular events in men randomised to testosterone treatment (see section on Testosterone therapy: potential risks below) (Basaria et al. 2010), testosterone should be used with caution in frail men with multiple comorbidities

The retrospective, non-randomised and non-blinded design of these studies (Shores et al. 2012, Muraleedharan et al. 2013, Vigen et al. 2013) leaves open the possibility for residual confounding and multiple other sources of bias. These have been elegantly summarised by Wu (2012).

Effects of testosterone therapy on body composition were metabolically favourable with modest decreases in fat mass and increases in lean body mass

This suggests that testosterone has limited effects on glucose metabolism in relatively healthy men with only mildly reduced testosterone.

it is conceivable that testosterone treatment may have more significant effects on glucose metabolism in uncontrolled diabetes, akin to what has generally been shown for conventional anti-diabetic medications.

the evidence from controlled studies show that testosterone therapy consistently reduces fat mass and increases lean body mass, but inconsistently decreases insulin resistance.

Interestingly, testosterone therapy does not consistently improve glucose metabolism despite a reduction in fat mass and an increase in lean mass

the majority of RCTs (recently reviewed in Ng Tang Fui et al. (2013a)) showed that testosterone therapy does not reduce visceral fat

testosterone therapy decreases SHBG

testosterone is inversely associated with total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride (Tg) levels, but positively associated with HDL cholesterol levels, even if adjusted for confounders

Although observational studies show a consistent association of low testosterone with adverse lipid profiles, whether testosterone therapy exerts beneficial effects on lipid profiles is less clear

Whereas testosterone-induced decreases in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and Lpa are expected to reduce cardiovascular risk, testosterone also decreases the levels of the cardio-protective HDL cholesterol. Therefore, the net effect of testosterone therapy on cardiovascular risk remains uncertain.

data have not shown evidence that testosterone causes prostate cancer, or that it makes subclinical prostate cancer grow

compared with otherwise healthy young men with organic androgen deficiency, there may be increased risks in older, obese men because of comorbidities and of decreased testosterone clearance

recent evidence that fat accumulation may be oestradiol-, rather than testosterone-dependent

The total bodily content of lead is called the body burden; in a steady state, about 90 percent of the body burden is bound to bone.2

n general, lead is excreted quite slowly from the body (with the biologic half-life estimated at 10 years). Since excretion is slow, accumulation in the body occurs easily.2

hronic toxicity is an insidious illness with protean manifestations.3,6 Symptoms may include arthralgias, headache, weakness, depression, loss of libido, impotence and vague gastrointestinal difficulties.

Late effects may include chronic renal failure, hypertension, gout and chronic encephalopathy.6

The serum level of LDH correlated with tumor burden and was thought to reflect the tumor’s growth and invasive potential

the majority of patients with advanced or metastatic disease could be detected to have extremely high serum level of LDH

strong evidence to support effective chemotherapy of full dose even in patients with high LDH level

LDH is a key enzyme in the process of energy production in cancer cells, it catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to lactate in hypoxic conditions

its function in anaerobic metabolism, cancer cells grow even after their rapid proliferation that leads to low-oxygen conditions in the tumor microenvironment

LDH plays an important role in tumor progression and maintenance

inhibition of LDH inhibits tumor progression and has been considered for the therapeutic target of cancer energy metabolism

LDH levels are increased in response to tissue injury or during disease states

LDH could be a marker of tumor burden for advanced cancer patients

Patients with higher inflammation or tumor burdens, as measured by CRP levels or tumor antigen levels, tend to show lower peak plasma ascorbate levels after IVC.

Patients with metastatic tumors tend to achieve lower post infusion plasma ascorbate levels than those with localized tumors.

The inflammatory microenvironment of cancer cells leads to increasing oxidative stress, which apparently depletes vitamin C, resulting in lower plasma ascorbate concentrations in blood samples post IVC infusion. Another explanation for this finding may be that cancers are themselves more metabolically active in their uptake of vitamin C, causing subjects to absorb more of the vitamin, and as a results show lower plasma ascorbate concentrations in blood post IVC infusion.

Most of the prostate cancer patients studied, 75±19% (95% confidence), showed reductions in PSA levels during the course of their IVC therapy

Laboratory studies suggest that, at high concentrations, ascorbate does not interfere with chemotherapy or irradiation and may enhance efficacy in some situations

Cameron and Pauling observed fourfold survival times in terminal cancer patients treated with intravenous ascorbate infusions followed by oral supplementation

Meta-analyses of clinical studies involving cancer and vitamins also conclude that antioxidant supplementation does not interfere with the efficacy of chemotherapeutic regiments

patients with severely elevated CRP levels attain plasma ascorbate concentrations after IVC infusions that are only 65% of those attained for subjects with normal CRP levels

The finding of decreased plasma ascorbate levels in cancer patients may relate to the molecular structure of ascorbic acid; in particular, the similarity of its oxidized form, dihydroascorbic acid, to glucose

Since tumor have increased requirement for glucose [67], transport of dehydroascorbate into the cancer cells via glucose transport molecules and ascorbate through sodium-dependent transporter may be elevated

Increased accumulation of ascorbic acid in the tumor site was supported by measurements of the level of ascorbic acid in tumors in animal experiments

Regarding inflammation, 73±13% of subjects (95% confidence) showed a reduction in CRP levels during therapy. This was an even more dramatic 86±13% (95% confidence) in subjects who started therapy with CRP levels above 10 mg/L

IVC therapy appears to reduce CRP levels in cancer patients.

CRP concentrations directly correlate with disease activity in many cases and can contribute to disease progression through a range of pro-inflammatory properties.

Being an exquisitely sensitive marker of systemic inflammation and tissue damage, CRP is very useful in screening for organic disease and monitoring treatment responses

ncreases in CRP concentrations have been associated with poorer prognosis of survival in cancer patients, particularly with advance disease independent of tumor stage

patients with advanced malignancies may have lower level of ascorbic acid in tissue, creating a higher demand for the vitamin C

patients treated by IVC with follow-up several year showed that suppression of inflammation in cancer patients by high-dose IVC is feasible and potentially beneficial

Inflammation is a marker of high cancer risk, and poor treatment outcome

The subjects with highly elevated CRP concentrations have a three-fold elevation “all-cause” mortality risk and a twenty-eight fold increase in cancer mortality risk

cancer patients may need higher doses to achieve a given plasma concentration.

patients with lower vitamin C levels may see more distribution of intravenously administered ascorbate into tissues and thus attain less in plasma.

When treating patients with IVC, the first treatment likely serves to replenish depleted tissue stores, if those subjects were vitamin C deficient at the beginning of the treatment. Then, in subsequent treatments, with increasing doses, higher plasma concentrations can be attained. On-going treatments serve to progressively reduce oxidative stress in cancer patients.

large doses given intravenously may result in maximum plasma concentrations of roughly 30 mM, a level that has been shown to be sufficient for preferential cytotoxicity against cancer cells

oral intake of vitamin C exceeded 200 mg administered once daily, it was difficult to increase plasma and tissue concentrations above roughly 200 μM.