ASCO 2017: New Advances in Ovarian, Prostate, Lung & Melanoma Treatment Plans With the Institute’s Appraisals

“Science and Society” was the theme of this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 50th annual meeting. The meeting showcased  cancer research from around the world. Among other areas of allopathic cancer research, there has been some allopathic advancement in the four following fields of clinical action, all of which were generally recognized by the ASCO community to be the most significant.

1.  Targeting DNA repair mechanisms and anti-angiogenesis pathways simultaneously is more efficient than if only one pathway is addressed

Joyce Liu, MD, MPH, of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers reported that, in a phase 2 clinical trial, a combination of olaparib (a drug that blocks DNA repair in cancer cells) and cediranib (which blocks blood vessel growth in tumors) was considerably more effective in women with recurrent ovarian cancer than olaparib alone.. Progression-free survival – the length of time after treatment when the disease doesn’t worsen – was nearly twice as long in patients who received the combined therapy.

The ACR Institute’s Holistic Appraisal

While this allopathic achievement is notable,  it only better controls cancer progression, it does not halt it. Furthermore, this is achieved via synthetic drugs laden with toxic side effects and  work only on two biochemical pathways. On the other hand, holistic oncology by nature  targets simultaneously dozens of pathways at the same time. (See blog-article) This is why this type of approach has few if any toxic side effects and tends to be clinically more efficient and less costly. But there is no money to get holistic oncology into serious clinical trials.

2. Targeting advanced prostate cancer with chemo earlier than later makes the cancer less resistant to hormone-blocking agents

Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, reported that, in a phase 3 trial, men with newly diagnosed, metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer lived more than a year longer when they received a chemotherapy drug as initial treatment rather than waiting for the disease to become resistant to hormone-blocking agents. The results should change the way physicians have routinely treated such patients since the 1950s, the research team stated.

 The ACR Institute’s Holistic Appraisal

Chemo resistance is a structural consequence of the allopathic drug approach. The microbiome  (microbiota’s bacteria & other critters), cancer cells and in particular cancer stem cells’ and their million years of evolutionary genes, easily outsmart men’s blasting high-tech interventions. With this prostate cancer allopathic advancement that is invoked, the prostate cancer patient will apparently live a year longer, on average. But when quality of life, and in particular libido quality of life is chemically and-or surgically stripped away, is there real progress in terms of happiness medicine and its “joie de vivre” principle ? It remains the Institute’s conviction that allopathic  conventional oncology is also misguided with prostate cancer. The Institute, supported by strong evidenced based research,  believes that targeting testosterone is wrong. The problem with prostate cancer comes from men being too much estrogen dominant, inter alia. (See blog article) Be that as it may, holistic oncology can’t get the funds needed to prove its point via clinical trials.

3. New lung cancer drug that shrinks lung  tumors by half with less side effects.

Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, presented data from a phase 1 trial showing  that a new, more precisely targeted drug shrank tumors in about half of non-small cell lung cancer patients whose tumors no longer responded to conventional targeted drugs. The agent, known as AZD9291, also produced markedly fewer side effects than did earlier targeted therapies for this type of cancer.

The ACR Institute’s Holistic Appraisal

One of the problems in conventional conology is that advanced non small cell lung cancer patients are usually not good candidates for chemo, given the malignant robust invasivemess process of metastases. For those lung cancer patients who do qualify for chemo treatment,  shrinking a tumor or tumors tends to be a smoke-screen in that there is no compelling evidence that tumor shrinkage reverses the malignancy. In other words, to my knowledge, there is no proof that tumor shrinkage significantly extends life span. Until root causes aiming at cancer stem cells, metabolic pathways, the immune system, the microbiota and even genes are holistically addressed, most lung cancers will tend to recur and-or new cancers will surface, especially when cytotoxic chemotherapy and ionic radiation are the main interventions.

 4.  The immunotherapy drug nivolumab betters its outcome by achieving a three year survival rate of 41 pecent of advanced melanoma patients.

F. Stephen Hodi, MD, director of the Melanoma Treatment Program, reported that the immunotherapy drug nivolumab continues to have long-term effectiveness against metastatic melanoma, achieving a three-year survival rate of 41 percent in patients participating in a phase 1 trial of the drug. Nivolumab works by unleashing an immune system attack on certain cancer cells.

The ACR Institute’s Holistic Appraisal

While an immunotherapy approach is laudable, way better than tumor shrinkage strategies,  allopathic oncology approaches the immune system with the same synthethic one pathway modality that does not get the entire immune system and its microbiome to better recognize cancer antigens and zap all malignant cells with their T- lymphocyte cells which are endogenously equipped with the best “chemo”,  designed according to cancer cells receptor “signatures”. Furthermore, the immune system will store in its memory system that type of cancer cell so that it can’t recur. Cancer relapse is one of the most important challenges of conventional oncology. Hence, allopathic experts’ decision to define five years as the key duration period that makes a patient “cancer-free” or blessed with the “no evidence of disease”, the NED label. But this approach ignores how cancer stem cells, metabolic pathways, the microbiome’s 2.5 million genes, autophagy, DNA repair mechanisms, telomere biology and, inter alia, the senescent cells process work to favor additional malignancies via other means when root causes have not been addressed. Be that as it may, any and all investment in immunotherapy is infinitely better than sole tumor destroying approaches. Sometimes surgically removing a well encapsulated tumor can even make sense, if only to reduce the tumor lysis load, but most times, if there is no holistic approach that synergiscally addresses dozens of pathways and root causes, cancer stem cells and their allies within the microenvironment or bioterrain will outsmart human medical endeavors in this area of clinical activity.

Pr. Joubert (ACRI director)

Disclaimer: Nothing in this educational blog should be construed as medical advise

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