CANCER BIOLOGY
WHAT IS CANCER?…AND INTEGRATIVE CANCER BIOLOGY
Here are a few videos to give you a better idea of what cancer is and how comprehensive care, including an integrative cancer care approach can benefit you. First, you need to grasp the complexity of cancer anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. No, you don’t need to go to medical school. But to avoid being misled it is important to understand how cancer comes about and how it is controlled.
The complexity deepens when you get to things like “signal transduction”, but what that means is how molecules which are either targeted biological drugs or natural nutrients interact with the cancer cell to either feed it or kill it. For example, this is how hormones work in helping a cancer grow or how hormones can be used to kill cancer cells.
The journey continues through understanding the “cancer stem cell” and how you can influence those with nutrition and lifestyle choices. These are also targets of molecular bio-agents in development, but for now you actually have more weapons on the natural front than on the pharmaceutical front.
Finally, you will see what the role of genetics and epigenetics is in activating these cancer stem cells. This is the molecular basis for preventing cancer and helping prevent recurrence.
WHAT IS CANCER? AN INTRODUCTION
This very brief introductory video from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which introduces what cancer is and how comprehensive integrative cancer care can help YOU!
THE BIOLOGY OF CANCER
This excellent, but much more in-depth, review from a Professor of Pathology at the UCSF School of Medicine gives you a solid understanding of what cancer is all about and the biological intricacies that make it so complex.
Tumor biology and receptors, like HER-2 or hormone receptors among many others, affect how tumors are stimulated to grow and how we might interfere with receptor-mediated growth stimulation.
CANCER STEM CELLS: INTEGRATIVE & NATURAL TREATMENT OPPORTUNITY
The following video introduces the very exciting story of the “cancer stem cell” and how it can be targeted, both using mainstream targeted drugs and integrative natural methods. I included this video from Europe to illustrate that the entire plant is working on this. The FDA is not in control of it all and there are no conspiracies to block the cure or cures for cancer(s). Many of the cancer pathways that control stem cells are affected by nutrients as well, so it is of major integrative interest.
EPIGENETICS
Finally, the following video introduces “epigenetics”, which is responsible for how your genes are actually activated. The language used here is as simple as possible for a VERY complex topic, so bear with it and you will get the general idea of what is going on. After setting the stage you will see how the epigenome, which is influenced by what you eat, drink, breath, think about, expose yourself to, can turn on pro-cancer genes or anti-cancer genes. How you interact with your environment can lead to cancer development or cancer suppression, and you can pass these factors on to your kids.
EPIGENETICS AND MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP
The following video takes it one step further and stretches our knowledge, but it is not random rambling on this topic either. We know that what you think can also influence your gene expression. This is part of the science of connection and the power of love, interconnectedness in friendship and society, faith and the like. Very powerful stuff. Don’t discount it in your survivorship journey. In my opinion it can make all the difference and I have seen the results in my personal patients. This is the science behind the complementary art of guided imagery and attitude towards defeating cancer.