17th June 2002
Some more info about calcium's involvement:
[url="http://lpi.orst.edu/infocenter/minerals/calcium/calcium.html"]http://lpi.orst.edu/infocenter/minerals/calcium/calcium.html[/url]
Adjuvant therapies - COX-1 & COX-2 inhibitors and statins:
This is a cut & paste:
"The Life Extension Foundation predicts that COX-2-inhibiting drugs will eventually be approved to treat cancer, but in the meantime, we are asking physicians treating cancer patients to consider prescribing a COX-2-inhibiting drug as an adjuvant therapy. The COX-2 drug of choice will be described later, but first we want to briefly discuss another prescription drug that may benefit cancer patients:
The regulation of cancer cell growth is often governed by a family of proteins known as RAS oncogenes. The RAS family is responsible for modulating the regulatory signals that govern the cancer cell cycle and proliferation. Mutations in genes encoding RAS proteins have been intimately associated with unregulated cell proliferation (i.e., cancer).
The "statin" class of cholesterol-lowering drugs has been shown to inhibit the activity of RAS oncogenes. Some of the "statin" drugs that have shown efficacy are lovastatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin.
There are mechanisms other than inhibition of RAS oncogene activity that make the "statin" drugs attractive as adjuvant anticancer agents. According to a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (1998, Vol. 273, No.17), prostate cancer cells are very sensitive to the induction of growth arrest and cell death by lovastatin. This study showed that lovastatin was particularly effective in inducing prostate cancer cell G1 arrest and cell death in human androgen-independent (hormone-refractory) lines. This study is confirmed by other studies showing that "statin" drugs interfere with critical growth pathways that enable cancer cells to proliferate out of control.
A suggested combination therapy to inhibit COX-2 and provide "statin" regulatory control of cell hyperproliferation is as follows:
Lodine XL is an arthritis drug approved by the FDA that interferes with COX-2 metabolic processes. The maximum dosage for Lodine is 1000 mg daily. The most convenient dosing schedule for the patient involves the prescribing of two Lodine XL 500-mg tablets in a single daily dose. As with any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), extreme caution and physician supervision is a must. The most common complaints associated with use of Lodine XL relate to the gastrointestinal tract. Serious GI toxicity such as perforation, ulceration, and bleeding can occur in patients treated chronically with NSAID therapy. Serious renal and hepatic reactions have been reported rarely. Lodine XL should not be given to patients who have previously shown hypersensitivity to it or in whom aspirin or other NSAIDs induce asthma, rhinitis, urticaria, or other allergic reactions. Fatal asthmatic reactions have been reported in such patients receiving NSAIDs.
Nimesulide is a safer COX-2 inhibitor, but is not approved by the FDA. It is available from Mexican pharmacies, or can be ordered by mail from European pharmacies. The suggested dose for nimesulide is two 100-mg tablets a day.
The two newest COX-2 inhibitors are Celebrex and Vioxx, but we suggest that cancer patients consider other drugs that have a more predictable safety history. Suppression of COX-1 is associated with the severe gastrointestinal complications induced by NSAIDs in humans, whereas selective inhibition of COX-2 reduces this side-effect risk. It is the COX-2 enzyme that fuels cancer cell proliferation, so the objective of choosing the proper NSAID in the treatment of cancer is to find one that suppresses the minimum percentage of COX-1 and the maximum percentage of COX-2. In other words, it is critical not to overly suppress COX-1 because the digestive tract needs COX-1 to maintain its structure, whereas it is important to suppress COX-2 because it is this enzyme that cancer cells use to proliferate. "
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This is a relatively old article [1998] as far cancer research goes - but the "COX-1, COX-2" and "statin" effects have been repeated in several studies since.
[url="http://lpi.orst.edu/infocenter/minerals/calcium/calcium.html"]http://lpi.orst.edu/infocenter/minerals/calcium/calcium.html[/url]
Adjuvant therapies - COX-1 & COX-2 inhibitors and statins:
This is a cut & paste:
"The Life Extension Foundation predicts that COX-2-inhibiting drugs will eventually be approved to treat cancer, but in the meantime, we are asking physicians treating cancer patients to consider prescribing a COX-2-inhibiting drug as an adjuvant therapy. The COX-2 drug of choice will be described later, but first we want to briefly discuss another prescription drug that may benefit cancer patients:
The regulation of cancer cell growth is often governed by a family of proteins known as RAS oncogenes. The RAS family is responsible for modulating the regulatory signals that govern the cancer cell cycle and proliferation. Mutations in genes encoding RAS proteins have been intimately associated with unregulated cell proliferation (i.e., cancer).
The "statin" class of cholesterol-lowering drugs has been shown to inhibit the activity of RAS oncogenes. Some of the "statin" drugs that have shown efficacy are lovastatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin.
There are mechanisms other than inhibition of RAS oncogene activity that make the "statin" drugs attractive as adjuvant anticancer agents. According to a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (1998, Vol. 273, No.17), prostate cancer cells are very sensitive to the induction of growth arrest and cell death by lovastatin. This study showed that lovastatin was particularly effective in inducing prostate cancer cell G1 arrest and cell death in human androgen-independent (hormone-refractory) lines. This study is confirmed by other studies showing that "statin" drugs interfere with critical growth pathways that enable cancer cells to proliferate out of control.
A suggested combination therapy to inhibit COX-2 and provide "statin" regulatory control of cell hyperproliferation is as follows:
Lodine XL is an arthritis drug approved by the FDA that interferes with COX-2 metabolic processes. The maximum dosage for Lodine is 1000 mg daily. The most convenient dosing schedule for the patient involves the prescribing of two Lodine XL 500-mg tablets in a single daily dose. As with any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), extreme caution and physician supervision is a must. The most common complaints associated with use of Lodine XL relate to the gastrointestinal tract. Serious GI toxicity such as perforation, ulceration, and bleeding can occur in patients treated chronically with NSAID therapy. Serious renal and hepatic reactions have been reported rarely. Lodine XL should not be given to patients who have previously shown hypersensitivity to it or in whom aspirin or other NSAIDs induce asthma, rhinitis, urticaria, or other allergic reactions. Fatal asthmatic reactions have been reported in such patients receiving NSAIDs.
Nimesulide is a safer COX-2 inhibitor, but is not approved by the FDA. It is available from Mexican pharmacies, or can be ordered by mail from European pharmacies. The suggested dose for nimesulide is two 100-mg tablets a day.
The two newest COX-2 inhibitors are Celebrex and Vioxx, but we suggest that cancer patients consider other drugs that have a more predictable safety history. Suppression of COX-1 is associated with the severe gastrointestinal complications induced by NSAIDs in humans, whereas selective inhibition of COX-2 reduces this side-effect risk. It is the COX-2 enzyme that fuels cancer cell proliferation, so the objective of choosing the proper NSAID in the treatment of cancer is to find one that suppresses the minimum percentage of COX-1 and the maximum percentage of COX-2. In other words, it is critical not to overly suppress COX-1 because the digestive tract needs COX-1 to maintain its structure, whereas it is important to suppress COX-2 because it is this enzyme that cancer cells use to proliferate. "
-----------
This is a relatively old article [1998] as far cancer research goes - but the "COX-1, COX-2" and "statin" effects have been repeated in several studies since.