I had heard about Coley's Toxins through this NPR article:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/12/28/459218765/cutting-edge-cancer-treatment-has-its-roots-in-19th-century-medicine
and had forgotten all about it until someone mentioned it in a group that I'm a part of, specifically, the version being offered by CHIPSA in Mexico:
http://chipsahospital.org/coleys-dendritic-therapy/
The video is actually factually correct up until the service-selling portion. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with it and how they felt it rated against Dr. Raymond Chang's offerings here in my hometown of NYC?
Anyone have any experiences to share?
Inhibition and eradication of human glioma with tumor-targeting Salmonella typhimurium in an orthotopic nude-mouse model.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26813865
I don't have knowledge of Coley's toxins, but the above study looked interesting.
The latest review of the subject is here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4777220/#R46
(Spontaneous regression of tumour and the role of microbial infection – possibilities for cancer treatment)
I have been intrigued by the idea of fever and cancer remission for a couple years. Is it more the infective agent triggering the immune response, or is it the fever or both. If its just the fever, how high and of what duration? I came across the following instructions for inducing fever (see bottom of my post). Does it work? Is it effective at enhancing immune function? If yes, is there any evidence to support its use in cancer treatment? Seems to me if fever was effective, at least reasonably consistent in its effect, then long ago we would have been using this approach by simply exposing cancer patients to an infective agent (let them spend time with those infected with the flu for example). This assumes of course they the patient is not so debilitated by their illness that exposing them to required vector won't kill them. Maybe the response is different for bacterial vs viral infections. If the approach listed below for induing fever actually induces fever, I would think the short duration, and likely rapid reversal of the fever would prevent it from being therapeutic. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteSo here it is...
Fever therapy involves drinking 5 cups of hot Ginger Root tea whilst your body is fully submerged in a HOT BATH (NOT SCORCHING HOT!). The bath should contain 1000 grams (up to 3 pounds) epsom salts from your supermarket and you should be submerged in the bath for 20-25 minutes. Prepare the Ginger Root tea before your bath using one small piece of ginger from your supermarket. Cut the Ginger Root into small pieces and boil it in distilled or bottled water for 5-10 minutes on the stove enough to make 5 cups of tea. Strain and pour the Ginger Root tea into a jug. Place the jug of Ginger Root tea and a cup next to your bathtub, ready to drink while in the bath. Heating up the body from the outside (the hot bath) and heating up the body from the inside (the Ginger Root tea) helps to induce a fever. After being in the bathtub for 20-25 minutes, you will likely feel faint, so be careful getting out of the bath. For this reason, it is important that someone always be present to assist you. After exiting from the bath it is important you naturally dry off (do not towel dry) and then cover up with as many blankets as possible for 3-8 hours in a bed protected with plastic (YOU WILL SWEAT) until the fever breaks. With this method the fever will generally not exceed 103 degrees and will not last more than 6-8 hours. This process should be repeated once a week for 6-8 weeks. [Dr Kent Bartell - New Hope Health Clinic, USA - Fever Therapy] Kent is a DC, not an MD or DO.
Whole body hyperthermia raising body temperature to 107 degrees Fahrenheit would be comparable to an extreme fever. According to wikipedia fevers do not normally go higher than that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/surgery/hyperthermia-fact-sheet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever
I'm not sure I understand why cancer cells would be more vulnerable to high temperatures than normal cells.
As far as cancer regression I suspect the infection that accompanies the fever and the stimulation of the immune system is at least as important, if not more important than the simple increasing of body temperature.
Therapies like POLY-ICLC work by mimicking a viral infection.
I have heard stories of tumor regression, using localized hyperthermia for breast cancer. First and second person accounts. But, of course, the brain is trickier to target and not do harm. I wonder if the circulated blood would heat as much in the brain as it would in the rest of the body, or if it's possible that the brain has a second line cooling defense mechanism as brain tissue is so fragile to temperature. It's defitely a curiosity of mine too, remission by fever. I'm always trying to be around kids, and illness, hoping their germs will cure me. :) I would love to hear from anyone who has tried Coley's.
ReplyDeleteMichael W, did you give it a try? If so, how did it go and what were the results?
ReplyDeleteNo, just one of many thoughts bouncing around in the back of my head.
ReplyDeleteI have been running a low-grade fever with chills and sweats for three nights now. It's over in about an hour. I assumed it was from Avastin, which I've just started to help reduce brain swelling, but at any rate, maybe these episodes will prove to be a good thing.
ReplyDelete