Chip

My best friend died from cancer at the age of 18. He was such a good guy, such a fine human being. I can still bring myself to tears if I care to take the time to dwell upon the experience. I had two aunts who died of cancer, breast cancer for one and I do not know which for the other. I do know that my mother’s sister who lived near us there in Southern California as I grew up was a very sweet and dear woman and her suffering was oh so great. Her two children, my cousins, one has died in a motorcycle accident, my other cousin is rarely heard from and last I did hear, she had been hurt physically in an abusive relationship. My uncle died too from a heart attack. That aunt’s cancer was the start of a series of calamities for that branch of my family. I hate cancer. I consider it as totally and irrefutably morally repugnant. I don’t like what it has done to my friends and family and I don’t want any one to experience such themselves.

Michael Gearin-Tosh, a professor of literature in an old London university, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer almost ten years ago and given, at most, two years to live. He wrote and published a book last year, 2001, entitled “Living Proof: A Medical Mutiny” that I found immensely rewarding and entertaining. His exploration into the logic of communications, deductive and the all too ignored, inductive reasoning, was quite illuminating and an excellent example of critical thinking. You can see more about his book at <a href="http://www.bolenreport.com/articles/angier.html" target="_blank">http://www.bolenreport.com/articles/angier.html</a>

I get my ellagic acid which I, my wife and my mother-in-law take, (got my mom to take it for a while too) from <a href="http://www.intohealth.com/ellagic.asp" target="_blank">http://www.intohealth.com/ellagic.asp</a> where you can read briefly on it. I tried to find more current information but alas, appears this stuff is so newly discovered, the double-blind studies have not concluded yet. I may be deluded, happens sometimes. But just to be on the safe side, we take it. Maybe it does cause many cancer cells to go through normal cell death, maybe it does help to stop the spread of existing cancer. Maybe I’ll learn that I’ve wasted a lot of my money. My mother-in-law had a huge cervical cancer tumor removed about six months ago. She recently told me that she is doing better than any one in her support group, with no return of the cancer yet, which may very well mean that every one else in her support group has had their cancers flare again. Members of her support group have asked her for the names of the supplements I’ve got her taking. Maybe they have nothing to do with why she is doing so well so far. Besides the ellagic acid, I’ve got her taking astaxanthin and you can find data on it at <a href="http://www.astaxanthin.org/" target="_blank">http://www.astaxanthin.org/</a>. I asked the head surgeon who removed my mother-in-law's tumor if she knew of ellagic acid or astaxanthin. She hadn't.

Here is hoping that if you or your loved ones should face this horrible disease, you too can see the same success as my mother-in-law.

Good Health, Chip

Edited for grammer correction.

[ November 03, 2002: Message edited by: Chip ]</p>

Sidian

i'm fairly ignorant to what cancer actually is and what it actually does to kill us.

i know it's a terminal disease, but i don't know what it is or how it spreads or any of that.

what is the mechanism of cancer?

can someone help me out here =(

i'm sorry if this "opens a wound" for you chip, it is truly not my intent.

MadMordigan

You can get you phlogostonic acid which I, my wife and my mother-in-law take, (got my mom to take it for a while too) from <a href="http://www.helpmadmordiganretirerichandearly.com/snakeoil.asp" target="_blank">http://www.helpmadmordiganretirerichandearly.com/snakeoil.asp</a> where you can read briefly on it. I tried to find more current information but alas, appears this stuff is so newly discovered, the double-blind studies have not concluded yet. I may be deluded, happens sometimes. But just to be on the safe side, you should take it. Maybe it does cause many cancer cells to go through normal cell death, maybe it does help to stop the spread of existing cancer. Maybe you'll learn that you've wasted a lot of my money.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

galiel

MM, I tried so hard to get to your phlogostonic website, but keeped being fed the cryptic message "the server could not be found"!! Shouldn't this read "the founder could not be saved"??

Do you think your revolutionary cure site is being blocked by a right-wing American pharmaceutical industry conspiracy to suppress Canadian innovations?

I am desperate. Please just tell me where to send my money. Please. For the children. Think of the children who are being supported by preying on innocent vulnerable people by the Western Medical Establishment Capitalist Conpsiracy, when, in stead, we cud al be suporting the childern of phlogiston CReators and their progeny? I am so sorry that you are being persecutid by cold-hearted rational robots. I support al your efforts to get The Truth [tm].

P.S. Sorry me for the spelling errors I get emotinal when I think od the children and their pholgiston depriviation. It almost makes me want to make up sob storys in order to solicite simpathy and prventp people from criticizmng me because Iprey on there sympathy not that I would ever do that no it is the metal receptors in my brian make it stop .

theyeti

Even if ellagic acid does have anti-cancer properties (and this is far from confirmed) it will at best only prevent cancers of the digestive tract, like esophogeal and stomach cancer. This is because epithelial cells import ellagic acid and practically none of it makes it into the blood stream and tissues. Even if you inject it into the blood stream of rats, it all ends up in the epithelial cells anyway.

I have a friend who works with ellagic acid as part of his dissertation research. He's found that it covalently binds to DNA and some proteins, but this can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Most chemicals that do bind to DNA like this tend to cause cancer. It's thought that if ellagic acid does have anti-cancer properties, it's because it's able to modify carcinogenes like benzopyrene. However, my friend is unsure about whether or not ellagic acid will prevent or cause cancer.

theyeti

Chip

Yes, theyeti. I find from what little is posted regarding ellagic acid that it only seems to get to epithelial cells. Besides working to block the DNA disruptive actions of some pollutants I find the claim that it may reenact the P53 gene which is known to activate apoptosis, normal cell death which cancer cells have deactivated. I wonder if delivery could be enhanced to bring any possible anti-cancer effects to non-epithelial cells perhaps through use of DMSO which I address in another thread within this forum area.

I understand that a 500 member double-blind experiment is underway now and should be concluded within a couple of months.

Regards, Chip

Edited to add last paragraph.

[ November 07, 2002: Message edited by: Chip ]</p>

Dr Rick

Ellagic acid would have to do more than bind to DNA or proteins to re-activate p53. p53 is an intracellular protein which monitors the integrity of DNA and directs it's repair, and if the damage is too severe, participates in cell apoptosis (cell death or "suicide").

Cancer cells do not deactivate p53; instead, mutations or deletion of the p53 gene are one of the injuries that can lead a cell into disregulated proliferation and, in combination with other gene mutations or deletions, cancer.

To reactivate the p53 gene, ellagic acid would have to not just bind to DNA, but actually repair the mutation or deletion in the p53 gene sequence that led to the initial defect.

Rick

Chip

Thank you, Rick, for the informative post.

I can find the specific reference and whether or not it is true I don't know. I believe the specific claim was that it stopped virus involved masking of the P53 gene code. Pretty far-fetched? I'll go see if I can find the claim and also the completed rat studies appear interesting.

Thanks again, Chip

Chip

Apparently there is a public version of MedLine at <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=PubMed" target="_blank">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=PubMed</a> . I just scratched the surface with a search for "ellagic acid." Gonna spend some more time there.

Here is a report that claims finding "insight into the alterations in the p53 - responsive genes"

Life Sci 2002 Mar 1;70(15):1821-39 Related Articles, Links

Interactive gene expression pattern in prostate cancer cells exposed to phenolic antioxidants.

Narayanan BA, Narayanan NK, Stoner GD, Bullock BP.

Microarray Systems Laboratory, American Health Foundation, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA. bhagavat@mindspring.com

Dietary phenolic compounds are known to elicite vital cellular responses such as cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and differentiation by activating a cascade of molecular events. As there is an increasing interest to improve the efficacy of these compounds for use as potential chemopreventive agents, we wanted to understand the impact of phenolic compounds on target genes in prostate cancer. In this study we used human cDNA microarrays with 2400 clones consisting of 17 prosite motifs to characterize alterations in gene expression pattern in response to the phenolic antioxidants ellagic acid (EA) and resveratrol (RE). Over a 48-hr exposure of androgen - sensitive LNCaP cells to EA and RE, a total of 593 and 555 genes respectively, showed more than a two fold difference in expression. A distinct set of genes in both EA-and RE-treated cells may represent the signature profile of phenolic antioxidant-induced gene expression in LNCaP cells. Although extensive similarity was found between effects of EA - and RE - responsive genes in prostate cancer cells, out of 246 genes with overlapping responses, 25 genes showed an opposite effect. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to verify and validate the differential expression of selected genes identified from cDNA microarrays. In-depth analysis of the data from this study provided insight into the alterations in the p53 - responsive genes, p300, Apaf-1, NF-kBp50 and p65 and PPAR families of genes, suggesting the activation of multiple signaling pathways that leads to growth inhibition of LNCaP cells. This is a first study to look for changes in a large number of human genes in response to dietary compounds.

PMID: 12002526 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Baptist Vine

I know how you feel. My brother died of cancer (ewing's sarcoma) in January 2001. I looked after him and nursed him for over a year before he finally went into the hospital for the last time. When my father and I brought him to hospital to stay near the end, I leaned over him and he kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for taking care of him. Even now the tears stil come sometimes.