Six Innovative Cancer Therapies for 2024

According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 17 million people were living with cancer in the United States, with treatment costs surpassing $200 billion in 2020. While advancements in medical technology have led to a decrease in cancer mortality rates, the number of diagnosed cases continues to rise. The American Cancer Society reports that 2024 is projected to be the first year the United States will see more than two million new cancer cases.

 

For over a century, high-dose systemic therapies like chemotherapy have been the cornerstone of cancer treatment. Although these drugs have been successful for some patients, they often compromise the immune system and come with severe adverse effects.

Dr. Nathan Goodyear, an integrative physician at the Williams Cancer Institute, explains that the systemic-to-tumor approach can contribute to recurrence and metastasis. He emphasizes that the need for innovative cancer treatments is more critical than ever.

“Cancer continuously mutates until either the cancer is gone or the individual is,” Dr. Goodyear told The Epoch Times, highlighting the disease’s ever-changing nature. He underscores the importance of adopting new and innovative therapies to combat cancer effectively.

“As long as we still serve as patient advocates, we must push the envelope of innovation to not only keep up with cancer mutability but to push past cancer,” Dr. Goodyear asserts.

1. Fecal Transplantation

Once seen as unconventional, fecal transplantation is now emerging as a promising cancer therapy. Scientifically known as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), this procedure involves transplanting fecal matter from a healthy donor into a patient’s gastrointestinal tract. The goal is to restore a balanced gut microbiome, often disrupted in cancer patients by chronic antibiotic use or the disease itself.
A 2023 study published in eClinicalMedicine found that using fecal transplants along with two immunotherapy drugs significantly boosted survival in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Immunotherapy leverages the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.
After undergoing the combination treatment, the patients lived a median of approximately 14 months. On average, they experienced around 10 months without disease progression. The fecal transplants appeared to enhance the effectiveness of the drugs by potentially restoring a healthier gut microbiome, which is crucial for this difficult-to-treat cancer.

Dr. Yinghong “Mimi” Wang, a gastroenterology specialist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains that cancer and its treatments often make patients more prone to infections and conditions like colitis, a common adverse effect of certain chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs.

“The gut microbiome in cancer patients frequently exhibits dysbiosis due to multiple risk factors, including malignancy, cancer therapy, and antibiotic exposure,” she told The Epoch Times. “By naturally altering the microbiome using healthy donor material, FMT represents the most promising future treatment for immunotherapy-induced colitis.”

The process of FMT varies based on the patient’s condition. For issues with the lower gastrointestinal tract (GI), methods include colonoscopy or enema, while the upper GI tract options involve freeze-dried capsules or direct infusion via feeding tube or endoscopy. Dr. Wang notes that most patients prefer colonoscopy.

“Our data has demonstrated that FMT is a safe and effective treatment with a rapid onset,” explained Dr. Wang. “The usual colitis-related symptoms, such as diarrhea, bleeding, mucus in the stool, or pain, typically improve or resolve within 4–5 days after fecal transplantation.”

“The dawn of fecal transplantation as a therapy is a dawn just rising,” asserts Dr. Goodyear. With ongoing research and increasing clinical evidence, FMT holds promise not only for improving treatment outcomes but also for enhancing the quality of life for cancer patients, he said.

2. Pulse Electric Field Therapy

Pulse Electric Field (PEF) therapy targets and destroys cancer cells using electrical pulses to disrupt cell membranes, while sparing healthy tissue. This method offers a less invasive and more precise alternative to traditional treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

“The human body has become the battlefield and the immune system the collateral damage,” said Dr. Goodyear. “PEF therapy changes that paradigm by focusing on tumor targeting rather than human targeting.”

PEF therapy delivers short, high-voltage pulses between two electrodes, a process known as electroporation. This creates temporary holes (pores) in cancer cell membranes, allowing therapeutic agents to penetrate more effectively or causing the cells to die directly.

A 2023 Scientific Reports study demonstrated that nano-pulsed PEF reduced multidrug resistance in pancreatic cancer cells and made the cells more susceptible to chemotherapy. The treatment significantly shrank cancer cell clusters, indicating reduced tumor growth.

At the Williams Cancer Institute in California, recent advancements include nano-pulsed PEF, which generates a larger electric field amplitude and penetrates cancer cells more deeply. This technique bypasses the cell membrane’s defenses and damages internal structures, thus leading to cell death.

Nano-pulsed PEF offers therapeutic options for patients who are not suitable candidates for surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation,“ Dr. Goodyear noted. ”This minimally invasive treatment spares healthy tissue and significantly reduces recovery time.”

3. Cryoablation

Cryoablation employs extreme cold to destroy cancerous tissues, offering a minimally invasive option, which targets tumors while sparing healthy surrounding tissue.

“Cryoablation changes the treatment landscape by targeting tumors directly with extreme cold instead of heat or chemicals,” said Dr. Goodyear.

The procedure involves inserting a probe into the tumor and rapidly cooling it with argon gas. Cryoablation leads to immediate cell death by forming ice crystals within the cells and also triggers programmed cell death, known as apoptosis, as part of the freezing process.

A 2022 study published in Theranostics found that cryoablation offers quicker recovery times and better tumor response than traditional heat-based methods. Doctors can target tumors more precisely by using nanoparticles, making the treatment more effective and reducing adverse effects.
In July 2024, Japanese researchers reported that 99.74 percent of women with breast cancer treated with IceCure Medical’s ProSense Cryoablation System had no return of the disease. The findings, presented at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Breast Cancer Society, were based on a study led by professor Eisuke Fukuma involving 389 patients over 10 years. Additionally, a five-year follow-up study showed no return of cancer in treated patients.

“In addition to great efficacy on treating tumors and favorable cosmetic results, there is evidence that cryoablation has potentially favorable impacts on the immune system, further improving longer term outcomes,” Mr. Fukuma said in a press release.

Dr. Goodyear expanded on this, explaining, “Cryoablation not only kills cancer cells but also stimulates the immune system by releasing neoantigens.”

Neoantigens are new substances that can trigger an immune response. When cancer cells are destroyed using cryoablation and PEF, they release these new antigens. The immune system then recognizes these antigens and activates to attack the cancer.

This treatment is particularly effective for cancers of the prostate, liver, kidney, breast, and lung, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Its minimally invasive nature means quicker recovery times for patients.

4. Intratumoral Immunotherapy

Intratumoral immunotherapy targets tumors directly to trigger a systemic immune response. According to a paper in the Annals of Oncology, intratumoral immunotherapy is a “therapeutic strategy which aims to use the tumor as its own vaccine” by injecting immune-boosting agents directly into it.

Intratumoral immunotherapy often combines immunotherapy or chemotherapy with techniques like PEF and cryoablation. The goal is to activate the local immune response and extend it throughout the body, harnessing the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer, according to Dr. Goodyear.

“We’re using the body’s inherent immune system to do the job it was created to do,” emphasizes Dr. Goodyear. Known as the abscopal effect in radiation literature, this approach has proven successful in treating melanoma, head and neck cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and prostate cancer.

SYNC-T is a powerful combination of four therapies that attack tumors and activate the immune system, enhanced by cryoablation to destroy cancer cells and create new antigens.

At the American Association of Cancer Research in April 2024, Dr. Jason Williams presented phase I trial results for intratumoral SYNC-T in stage IV prostate cancer. The trial involved 13 hospice patients with limited options, and 85 percent responded to the treatment. Five had a complete response, and six showed a partial response, with the expectation that many would achieve complete response.

This therapy combines local tumor treatment with SYNC-T boosting the immune system to recognize and fight cancer throughout the body.

“This is the revolutionary shift from one-size-fits-all to precision cancer care—a method that promises not just to attack cancer, but to arm your body’s own defenses for the fight,” Dr. Goodyear said.

5. Targeted Osmotic Lytic Therapy

Targeted Osmotic Lytic (TOL) therapy destroys cancer cells by increasing sodium levels inside them, causing the cells to break down. This method aims to target cancer cells while sparing healthy ones.

Dr. Christine Hauser, an integrative physician and founder of the Center for Collaborative Medicine, discussed TOL in detail with The Epoch Times. She explained that TOL uses a confluent field, or an energy field, to open specific sodium channels in cancer cells, setting it apart from more invasive procedures. For this process to be effective, the heart medication Digoxin is given first to shut down the sodium-potassium pump, preventing the cells from expelling sodium.

Dr. Hauser further explained that while all cells have sodium channels, some advanced cancers have an increased number. TOL forces cancer cells to absorb more sodium, while Digoxin blocks the pumps that would normally expel it. This sodium buildup causes water to enter, swelling the cells until they burst via a process called osmosis. By targeting these channels, TOL can theoretically destroy cancer cells without harming healthy ones.

In 2021, a 46-year-old woman with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix was treated with TOL after exhausting all other options. She had only days to weeks to live, according to a study published in Current Oncology.

Despite her rapidly progressing cancer, the treatment reduced its density and possibly contributed to tumor death. “The patient survived with improved quality of life for a total of nine weeks post-treatment, more than eight weeks longer than anticipated,” the authors noted.

“To date, TOL has been shown to reduce the size and slow the growth of several forms of advanced carcinomas and increase survival in mice and companion animals without damaging normal tissues or producing discernible adverse effects,” the authors wrote.

TOL therapy is relatively new and not effective for all cancer types. While promising in animal tests, it is not yet available in the United States. However, Oleander Medical Technologies, which holds the patent for TOL, is working under U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidance to gain approval for the first human trials.

6. Repurposed Medications

Repurposed medications use old, off-patent drugs to target cancer in innovative ways. Although not new to medicine, this approach has gained traction in oncology due to lower development costs and shorter approval times compared to new drugs. The concept gained widespread recognition in 2014 with the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project.

“Repurposed medications are not a cure for cancer or a replacement for conventional therapies. They are valuable adjuncts to the stacking of therapies in a precise manner,” explains Dr. Goodyear. These medications can target specific cancer pathways effectively, providing additional support to traditional treatments.

For example, drugs such as Celebrex, ivermectin, low-dose naltrexone, and Mebendazole are now being used to target critical pathways in cancer cells, including those involved in the progression of cancers like breast cancer with brain metastasis.

Metformin, originally for Type 2 diabetes, and aspirin, known for pain relief, have mechanisms that help inhibit cancer cell growth and induce apoptosis.

Repurposed medications have shown promise in targeting cancer cells using advanced techniques that study genes, proteins, and other biological factors. Dr. Goodyear says significant research supports their success. However, their use must be carefully managed to ensure effectiveness and avoid the pitfalls of a “throw everything at the wall” approach.

Original Article: https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/six-new-cancer-therapies-offering-hope-in-2024-post-5691946

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