Fwd: THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (07/18/04)

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> 19 Jul 2004 00:56:03 -0000

> " Cancer Decisions "

>

> THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (07/18/04)

>

>

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> Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

> Newsletter #141 07/18/04

>

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>

>

>

> THE MOSS REPORTS

>

>

> For the past thirty years I have been studying and

> closely monitoring the world of cancer treatment,

> sorting fact from fiction, and helping cancer

> patients and their families to understand and weigh

> the usefulness of the treatments they have been

> offered.

>

> The Moss Reports represent a comprehensive library

> of cancer guides. In them, my years of experience in

> researching cancer treatments have been distilled

> into a careful assessment of the worth and

> effectiveness of the conventional and alternative

> treatments of over two hundred different kinds of

> cancer.

>

> If you or someone you love has received a diagnosis

> of cancer, a Moss Report can provide you with the

> key to understanding the best that conventional and

> alternative medicine have to offer. You can order a

> Moss Report on your specific cancer type by calling

> Diane at 1-800-980-1234 (814-238-3367 from outside

> the US), or by visiting our website:

> http://www.cancerdecisions.com

>

> We look forward to helping you.

>

>

> VITAMIN C AND CANCER: NEW DEVELOPMENTS

>

>

> Vitamin C is in the news again. A study carried out

> by a research team from the Harvard School of Public

> Health and published July 1 in the New England

> Journal of Medicine (Fawzi, WW, 2004) showed that a

> multivitamin supplement that included vitamin C

> significantly slowed the onset of AIDS and provided

> an " effective, low-cost means of delaying the

> initiation of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected

> women. " The total cost of the treatment was

> estimated by the researchers to be about $15 per

> year. Here is yet another demonstration of the

> astonishing power of food supplements, particularly

> antioxidants such as vitamin C, to promote human

> health.

>

> I am often asked whether or not vitamin C (ascorbic

> acid) is also an effective way of fighting cancer. I

> answer that while there is a growing body of

> scientific evidence to suggest that vitamin C is

> useful in the prevention of cancer, the jury is

> still out on its effectiveness as a cancer

> treatment. However, its low cost and astonishing

> lack of toxicity make it an extremely attractive

> candidate for further testing.

>

> Representative of the investigations that are

> currently under way concerning vitamin C's role in

> the treatment of cancer is the work of Kedar N.

> Prasad, PhD, a professor of radiology at the

> University of Colorado Health Sciences Center,

> Denver. Prasad has demonstrated that vitamin C is

> capable of inhibiting the growth of cancer cells in

> vitro. He advocates giving vitamin C and other

> antioxidants to patients while they are undergoing

> conventional chemotherapy and radiation. (I draw on

> his work in my book Antioxidants Against Cancer.)

>

> Click or go here for more information on my book,

> Antioxidants Against Cancer.

>

http://buybox.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=cancerdecisio-20 & link_code=xsc\

& creative=23424 & camp=2025 & path=/dt/assoc/tg/aa/xml/assoc/-/1881025284/cancerdeci\

sio-20/ref=ac_bb6_,_cancerdecisio-20

>

> Prasad's theory is that normal cells require only a

> minute, precisely controlled amount of antioxidants

> in order to function. They reject any excess. But

> among other defects, malignant cells have lost the

> capacity to regulate their uptake of antioxidants

> such as vitamin C and E. Antioxidants can therefore

> accumulate in cancer tissue in levels that can lead

> to the breakdown and death of malignant cells

> (Prasad 2003).

>

> The history of research into vitamin C as a cancer

> treatment is clouded with controversy. In the

> 1970s, a Scottish physician Ewan Cameron, MD, teamed

> up with Linus Pauling, PhD, to write a book, Cancer

> and Vitamin C, in which they extolled the usefulness

> of vitamin C as a treatment for cancer. (Pauling had

> previously published a book on vitamin C and the

> common cold.) Cancer and Vitamin C became a

> bestseller and this fueled public demand for

> investigation of the role of vitamin C in cancer

> treatment.

>

> Pauling was a world-famous chemist, a two-time Nobel

> laureate, with great medical achievements to his

> record. But he was not a medical doctor, and this

> raised the ire of some medical critics such as the

> self-proclaimed " quackbuster " Victor Herbert, MD.

> However, the demand for a fair test of Pauling's

> thesis could not be ignored indefinitely, and in

> time doctors at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN,

> undertook a clinical trial that was supposed to

> replicate Drs. Cameron and Pauling's protocol.

>

> In two often-cited papers, Charles Moertel, MD and

> his Mayo colleagues claimed that vitamin C had

> absolutely no beneficial effect when used in the

> treatment of patients with advanced cancer,

> regardless of whether or not they had received prior

> chemotherapy (Creagan 1979 and Moertel 1985). Dr.

> Moertel was called the " foremost professional

> demolition expert...of alternative cancer

> treatments " (Richards 1991). Moertel's negative

> comments on the topic included his assertion that

> evaluating alternative treatments was a " waste of

> time and money...a waste of patient hope " (Moertel

> 1989). His high-handed manner of testing vitamin C

> convinced proponents that they had been set up for

> inevitable defeat. But the damage had been done, and

> vitamin C was marginalized as a cancer treatment.

>

>

> Tale of Two Trials

>

>

> Is there a good scientific reason why vitamin C

> might have failed to show a beneficial effect in the

> Mayo Clinic trials while succeeding in the hands of

> its proponents? It now appears that there was. In

> the Mayo Clinic studies all patients received either

> vitamin C tablets or an inert sugar pill. What was

> widely overlooked at the time was that patients on

> the Cameron-Pauling protocol were given vitamin C

> not only orally but also via intravenous injection.

>

> A few practitioners—most notably Abram Hoffer, MD of

> Victoria, British Columbia and Hugh Riordan, MD of

> the Center For the Improvement Of Human Functioning

> International in Wichita, Kansas— continue to use

> vitamin C intravenously at doses of up to 100 grams

> – almost 4 ounces - per day. In fact, using

> high-dose intravenous vitamin C has become a common

> procedure among CAM-oriented doctors, although it is

> ignored by orthodox medicine – witness the fact that

> in the decade since 1994 the number of presentations

> on intravenous vitamin C at the American Society of

> Clinical Oncology (ASCO) convention has been exactly

> zero.

>

>

> New NIH Data

>

>

> Could the route of administering vitamin C make a

> significant difference? Yes it could. New data

> shows that how one gives ascorbic acid has a big

> impact on the amount that actually becomes

> physiologically available. An April, 2004 study by

> scientists at the US National Institutes of Health

> (NIH) showed that much more vitamin C gets taken up

> when it is given via the intravenous route than when

> the vitamin is taken orally. The authors of the

> study include Sebastian J. Padayatty, MD of the

> Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section at one of

> the NIH institutes, and his chief, Mark A. Levine,

> MD. Both are highly regarded figures in academic

> circles. Dr. Levine is a Harvard Medical School

> graduate who carried out the laboratory work that

> convinced the National Academy of Science to

> increase of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of

> vitamin C. (In 2000, the RDA for men was increased

> from 60 to 90 mg daily, and for women the RDA was

> increased from 60 to 75 mg daily.)

>

> In the Padayatty study, 17 healthy hospitalized

> volunteers were given either oral or intravenous

> doses of vitamin C, and blood plasma levels were

> calculated for a dose range of 1 to 100 grams. The

> authors reported that " peak plasma vitamin C

> concentrations were higher after administration of

> intravenous doses than after administration of oral

> doses…and the difference increased according to

> dose. "

>

> In fact, the blood concentration of Vitamin C when

> given intravenously was 6.6 times greater than when

> the same amount was given orally. However, this

> hardly tells the full story. The maximum tolerated

> doses also differed significantly according to

> whether the vitamin C was administered orally or

> intravenously. The maximum tolerated oral dose was

> calculated to be three grams every four hours, but

> when the vitamin C was given intravenously the

> researchers found they could give a 50 gram dose in

> the same period. Furthermore, plasma concentrations

> up to sixty times greater could be achieved using

> the intravenous route.

>

> These NIH scientists observed that oral vitamin C

> " produces plasma concentrations that are tightly

> controlled… Only intravenous administration of

> vitamin C produces high plasma and urine

> concentrations that might have antitumor activity. "

> They conclude that " the efficacy of vitamin C

> treatment cannot be judged from clinical trials that

> use only oral dosing, " as the Mayo Clinic studies

> most conspicuously did, and that " the role of

> vitamin C in cancer treatment should be reevaluated "

> (Padayatti 2004). Coming from such prestigious

> government scientists, publishing in the Annals of

> Internal Medicine, I believe this is a convincing

> (albeit belated) refutation of the poorly designed

> Mayo Clinic studies.

>

> It is never easy to arrange clinical trials,

> especially of an agent that has long been in the

> public domain and from whose sale no super-profits

> can be expected. The way the drug approval system

> works in the United States virtually requires the

> enthusiastic support of sponsors with deep pockets

> (which almost invariably means a pharmaceutical

> company) in order to see a new drug through the

> long, involved and expensive process of drug

> approval. No non-toxic, readily available agent has

> ever been approved by the Food and Drug

> Administration for the treatment of cancer. Vitamin

> C at retail sells for around five cents per gram.

> The cost of even 100 grams prepared for intravenous

> use is still very inexpensive compared to patented

> chemotherapy. I therefore don't think you will find

> many drug companies lining up to test and market

> such a readily available agent. And so the question

> of what vitamin C can do for patients—so fascinating

> and promising—has remained in limbo.

>

> However, things may be about to change. At a

> meeting of the American College for the Advancement

> of Medicine (ACAM) in April, 2003, Jeanne A. Drisko,

> MD, announced just such a clinical trial at her

> institution, the University of Kansas Medical

> Center. Luckily, the Cancer Treatment Research

> Foundation (CTRF) stepped forward to fund the Kansas

> City clinical trial. A randomized controlled trial,

> with Dr. Drisko as principal investigator, is now

> underway at the University of Kansas Medical Center,

> evaluating the safety and efficacy of antioxidants

> when added to chemotherapy in newly diagnosed

> ovarian cancer (Drisko 2003).

>

> In a recent letter, Dr. Drisko wrote: " This is a

> randomized study in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer

> (Stage III or IV). The study subjects are randomized

> to receive either first-line chemotherapy or

> first-line chemotherapy along with high-dose

> antioxidants. The antioxidants are given both orally

> and intravenously. If randomized to the antioxidant

> arm, patients receive daily oral vitamins A, C, E

> and carotenoids, and intravenous (IV) vitamin C 2

> times per week for 12 months. We tailor the dose of

> the IV vitamin C to their plasma vitamin C level -

> we try to get…the neoplastic cell kill dose, using

> Dr. Hugh Riordan's protocol.

>

> " At this plasma level, vitamin C is chemotoxic to

> the cancer cells and appears to be non-toxic to

> healthy cells. But we are following white cell and

> platelet counts and other markers for possible

> toxicity from the vitamin C. Most patients need

> between 75 and 100 grams infused to get to that

> plasma level. We can assure concerned oncologists

> that it preliminarily does not appear that the

> high-dose antioxidants are interfering with the

> chemotherapy at this time.

>

> " In ovarian cancer, " she continued, " the patients

> are usually treated with chemotherapy during the

> first 5 to 6 months (6 cycles of carboplatin and

> paclitaxel) so they are getting an additional 6 to 7

> months of antioxidants past the chemo. This study is

> conducted under the oversight of the FDA with an

> Investigative Drug (IND) number and has approval

> from the Human Subjects Committee (i.e., the

> institutional review board) of the University of

> Kansas Medical Center. So far, we have 14 patients

> enrolled and are hoping to recruit 40. We have had 2

> dropouts: 1 because she refused to adhere to the

> treatment requirements and started smoking, and 1

> because she was chemotherapy resistant to all

> chemotherapy by drug assays " (Drisko 2004).

>

> This trial is a very encouraging development. Dr.

> Drisko is a person with credibility in both orthodox

> and CAM circles. She is thus in an ideal position to

> do a study that will be not only rigorous but

> entirely believable in its conclusions.

>

> As some of you know, I wrote the authorized

> biography of Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, MD, PhD, who won

> the 1937 Nobel Prize for his discovery of vitamin C.

> In fact, it was he who named the vitamin ascorbic

> acid and first predicted its use in cancer. When

> Szent-Gyorgyi was on his deathbed, at the age of 93,

> Linus Pauling flew from California to Szent-Gyorgi's

> home at Woods Hole, Mass., to say goodbye. Holding

> his hand, Linus said wistfully, " You know, Albert, I

> always thought that someday we two would work

> together. " Szent-Gyorgyi looked up and said,

> humorously, " Well, if not in this life, then maybe

> in the next. " Pauling himself died a few years

> later, also at age 93. They were two of the greatest

> thinkers of the 20th century and it was one of the

> great privileges of my life to know them both. I

> like to think of the two of them smiling down at

> this latest development in the fascinating saga of

> this amazing chemical.

>

> To find out more about the Kansas clinical trial of

> vitamin C, contact:

>

> Jeanne Drisko, MD

> Associate Professor

> Program Director

> Program in Integrative Medicine

> Functional Medicine and Complementary and

> Alternative Therapies

> University of Kansas Medical Center

> Kansas City, KS 66160

> 913-588-6208

> email: jdrisko

>

>

>

> --Ralph W. Moss, PhD

>

> =======================

>

> References:

>

> American College of Physicians (ACP). How vitamin C

> is administered affects how much reaches the

> bloodstream and may affect the results of studies of

> its potential effect on cancer. Annals of Internal

> Medicine, Summaries for Patients, April 6, 2004.

> Retrieved July 1, 2004 from:

> http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/140/7/533

>

> Drisko JA, Chapman J, Hunter VJ. The use of

> antioxidants with first-line chemotherapy in two

> cases of ovarian cancer. J Am Coll Nutr. 2003

> Apr;22(2):118-23.

>

> Drisko JA. Personal communication, July 1, 2004.

>

> Fawzi WW, et al. A randomized trial of multivitamin

> supplements and HIV disease progression and

> mortality N Engl J Med 2004;351:23-32.

>

> Moertel, C.G. Interview on 'Health Report', ABC

> National Radio, August 7, 1989 [cited in Richards].

>

> Padayatty SJ, et al. Vitamin C pharmacokinetics:

> implications for oral and intravenous use. Ann

> Intern Med. 2004 Apr 6;140(7):533-7.

>

> Prasad KN. Antioxidants in cancer care: when and how

> to use them as an adjunct to standard and

> experimental therapies. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther.

> 2003 Dec;3(6):903-15.

>

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & dopt=Abstra\

ct & list_uids=14686711

>

> Richards, Evelleen. Vitamin C and Cancer: Medicine

> or Politics? New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

>

> ---------------

> IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

>

> The news and other items in this newsletter are

> intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in

> this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for

> professional medical advice.

>

> --------------

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