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A New Hypothesis on Spontaneous Remission of Cancer
Part 2: New hypothesis on spontaneous remission
Since fever has been clearly identified through epidemiological studies as an important factor in cancer remission, any theory regarding this phenomenon must take it into account. Fever is the oldest and most universally known hallmark of disease. It occurs not only in mammals but also in birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. In acute infections fever, is induced by the toxins produced by bacteria. Endotoxins act on macrophages, monocytes and kupffer cells to produce interleukin-1. IL-1 enters the brain to act on the preoptic area of the hypothalamas. Activation of this area causes the body to raise its temperature set point and the temperature raising mechanisms are activated. The benefits of fever to the organism have not been fully determined. However since fever has persisted as a response to infections and other diseases during the course of evolution, it is presumed to be beneficial.
The main effect of fever on the body cells is an increase in their metabolic rates. It therefore seems logical to think of Coley's toxins as a metabolic therapy rather then an immuno-therapy. However, since fever alone did not result in 100% remission after administration of the toxins it seems reasonable to consider the possibility of another factor [or factors] playing a role in the remissions produced by Coley's toxins. Since fever is a metabolic factor, the search for other factors should start by focusing on any other peculiarities that affected the metabolism of the patients who responded well to the toxins. One factor that comes up again and again when reading the narratives of the cancer patients who responded dramatically to Coley's toxins is starvation. In my view the incidence of undernourishment appears to remarkably high in the anecdotal cases that are frequently touted as proof of the toxins.
Indeed Coley's first patient had a sarcoma affecting his neck and tonsils. In fact it is said that the patient was in danger of dying from starvation. After several attempts, Coley succeeded in infecting him with a virulent strain of Streptococcus. He developed severe anorexia, vomiting and a high fever and his tumor began to shrink almost immediately. He went into remission for eight years after just one attack of erysipelas.
Another interesting case was that of a woman from Kentville , Nova Scotia . She was suffering from renal cell carcinoma with peritoneal metastases. The surgeon who operated on her felt that her case was utterly hopeless and he thought that she would not survive the trip back home. In Kentville, her doctor gave her what he thought was a lethal dose of the toxins to end her suffering. That dose caused an almost instant remission of her cancer. Six weeks and 18 intramuscular injections later she was free from all signs of cancer. The patient was traced forty years later still free from cancer.
Another case that points to the fact that excellent results were achieved by the accidental combination of starvation and fever occurred in Costa Rica . In 1902 a young woman with a rapidly growing tumor of the nasopharynx was injected with a high intravenous dose of the toxins. She developed a fever of 105 and all her tumors took on a purple hue. Huge amounts of necrotic tissues formed and they had to be removed with forceps to prevent asphyxia. Within 72 hours of that one injection one tumor the size of an orange was gone and another large tumor was reduced to the size of a small nut.
The rapid onset of action in these and other cases clearly prove that the tumors could not have been destroyed by the immune system. The immune system is simply not capable of destroying billions of malignant cells within such a short period of time. What is even more illogical is to claim that the immune system can suddenly attack its own cells that had previously been thriving in the body, after administration of a mixed bacterial vaccine.
I have formulated a theory on spontaneous remission based on the facts mentioned above: the patients who have undergone spontaneous remission of cancer as well as the patients that underwent remission after administration of Coley's toxins did so as a direct result of inadvertently combining starvation with high fever.
Since the main physiological effect of starvation is the mobilization of fatty acids and the formation of ketone bodies by the liver, it is very likely that reduced consumption of glucose and increased utilization of fatty acids derivatives makes malignant cells very susceptible to the increased metabolic rate that occurs during fever.
Cancer researchers have long suspected that cancer cells are susceptible to certain chemical or physical conditions due to their genetic abnormalities. I propose that cancer cells can be killed selectively probably by stimulating apoptosis i.e. programmed cell death. This can be done by reducing glucose as a metabolic substrate and increasing the consumption of ketone bodies. This must then be followed by a sudden increase of the metabolic rate using fever or external thermal sources.
One interesting case that was not preceded by an acute infection has been reported in the current medical literature. This is the case of a patient who had a metastasized lung tumor who also developed myxedema coma. After he was treated for severe hypothyroidism his doctors noted that his lung tumor had undergone spontaneous regression. A novel paradigm was subsequently proposed; the thyroid gland aside from its known physiological activity is also the central modulator of solid neoplasia and therefore functions as an intrinsic biologic response modifier of neoplasia. The proponents of this new theory have carried out several clinical trials in which they induced clinically tolerable hypothyroidism in cancer patients. The results have not been as dramatic as the original case that inspired it.
Regarding this case and the proposed new paradigm I believe the doctors concerned made serious mistakes. First they only took into consideration one clinical aspect of the patient who underwent spontaneous remission i.e. the hypothyroidism. They failed to take into consideration the comatose state of the patient as well as the treatment he received. In other words they did not take into account the possibility that the starvation induced by the coma and the sudden increase in the metabolic rate stimulated by the thyroid hormones used to treat the myxedema coma could have contributed to the remission.
Another thing they failed to do was to compare their particular case of spontaneous remission with the more common cases of fever induced remissions. Had they done so, they would have observed an obvious similarity between these apparently different causes of cancer remission. The only similarity between this case and fever induced remission is and marked increase in the metabolic rate. Thyroid hormones increase the oxygen consumption of most metabolically active tissues in the body. The only exceptions are brain cells, the testis, uterus and lymphatic tissue. The magnitude depends on the metabolic rate prior to giving the hormone. The higher the metabolic rate before the hormone is given the lower the rise in metabolism. Similar changes occur in the rate of metabolism as a result of fever.
It would also be of interest to mention the fact that thyroid hormone is known to cause apoptosis of tadpole tail cells. Zoologists have also noted that that tadpoles tend to starve themselves during this particular phase of their development when they transform into frogs.
In summary I believe that this particular patient with lung cancer underwent spontaneous remission as a result of inadvertently combining the two metabolic factors mentioned above. The starvation induced by the coma and a high metabolic rate stimulated by the thyroid hormone.
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