Another Step Toward Curing Cancer

by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Image from MiddleSchoolChemistry

This week a realistic cure for cancer was presented by Thomas Graeber of UCLA (Molecular Systems Biology, June 26, 2012). His team showed that depriving cancer cells of the sugar, glucose, kills them by causing the cancer cells to accumulate Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). As ROS accumulate in cells, they damage the large molecules in cells, such as DNA and RNA, and cause apoptosis, the programmable death of cells. This specifically kills cancer cells without harming normal cells.

WHY EXISTING TREATMENTS FOR CANCER ARE NOT EFFECTIVE?

Chemotherapy and radiation are not effective treatments for cancer because they kill all cells, not just cancer cells. You cannot get a high enough dose to kill all of the cancer cells without killing too many normal cells. A cure for cancer will come from developing a "magic bullet" that will kill cancer cells and spare normal ones.

Image Source: Mesothelioma

WHAT IS THE BREAKTHROUGH?

The researchers at UCLA showed that removing the sugar glucose, from cancer cells causes huge amounts of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) to accumulate in cancer cells. Certain chemicals called tyrosine phosphates prevent ROS from accumulating in cells. Blocking tyrosine phosphates stops cancer cells from being able to remove ROS and causes even higher levels of ROS to accumulate in these cells. These very high levels of ROS revive apoptosis in the cancer cells and the cancer cells die as normal cells do.

THEREFORE CANCER CAN BE CURED BY:

1. DEPRIVING CANCER CELLS OF THE SUGAR, GLUCOSE, and
2. INHIBITING TYROSINE PHOSPHATES FROM REMOVING ROS FROM CANCER CELLS.

The next step in curing cancer is to develop drugs that prevent glucose from entering cancer calls, and block tyrosine phosphates from removing ROS, so that ROS can kill the cancer cells. This treatment will provide the magic bullet that will kill cancer cells and spare normal ones. Scientists are getting very close to a cure for cancer. For more on this exciting research, see http://www.drmirkin.com/morehealth/G303.html

Hidden Fact: Studies show that the natural way to kill cancer cells is by drinking a sugar-free lemon juice added with baking soda. It was found that lemon (Citrus limonun Risso) is a miracle product to kill cancer cells and is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.