Can we naturally target the 8 hallmarks of cancer??
In the year 2000, Hanahan and Weinberg published their influential review: the hallmarks of cancer
Dr. Jason Fung, a prominent figure in the field of fasting and metabolic health, provides valuable insights into understanding cancer through the lens of its hallmarks. Cancer, a complex and multifaceted disease, manifests through various biological processes that enable its growth and spread. Dr. Fung outlines eight hallmarks of cancer, each representing a crucial aspect of tumor development and progression. By comprehensively addressing these hallmarks, we can explore strategies to overcome cancer and improve treatment outcomes.
- Sustaining proliferative signaling: Cancer cells possess the ability to continuously proliferate and divide, evading the regulatory mechanisms that govern cell growth. To counter this hallmark, interventions that disrupt signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation can be effective. This includes targeted therapies that inhibit specific molecular targets driving cancer cell growth, such as growth factor receptors or signaling molecules.There are many nutrients and botanicals that can target the multiple signalling pathways that caner need to proliferate.
- Evading growth suppressors: Normal cells have built-in mechanisms to prevent excessive growth and proliferation. However, cancer cells can bypass these growth suppressor signals, allowing unchecked proliferation. Strategies to overcome this hallmark involve restoring or enhancing the activity of tumor suppressor genes, which regulate cell cycle progression and inhibit aberrant growth. This can be achieved through gene therapy, epigenetic modifications, or targeted drug therapies. And targeted use of botanicals
- Resisting cell death: Cancer cells exhibit resistance to programmed cell death, or apoptosis, which serves as a natural mechanism to eliminate damaged or abnormal cells. Overcoming this hallmark requires interventions that sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis-inducing signals. Various approaches, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted agents, aim to induce apoptosis in cancer cells while sparing normal tissues. Fasting over 18hours has shown to induce apoptosis in cancer cells
- Enabling replicative immortality: Normal cells have a finite lifespan and undergo senescence after a certain number of divisions. In contrast, cancer cells acquire the ability to bypass senescence and maintain indefinite replicative potential. Targeting mechanisms involved in cellular senescence or telomere maintenance can limit the replicative capacity of cancer cells. Therapeutic strategies may include telomerase inhibitors or agents that induce senescence in cancer cells. Some common polyphenols and xanthones from mangosteen have been shown to inhibit telomerase
- Inducing angiogenesis: Tumors require a blood supply to fuel their growth and metastasis, a process facilitated by the formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis. Inhibiting angiogenesis is a promising strategy to impede tumor growth and metastasis. Anti-angiogenic therapies, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors, disrupt the formation of new blood vessels, depriving tumors of oxygen and nutrients essential for their survival. Along with botanicals, certain foods can inhibit angiogenesis too
- Activating invasion and metastasis: Cancer cells acquire the ability to invade surrounding tissues and spread to distant sites, leading to the formation of metastatic lesions. Preventing invasion and metastasis is a critical aspect of cancer treatment and requires targeting the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes. Therapeutic approaches may include inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) or agents that disrupt the interactions between cancer cells and the extracellular matrix. Genistein, curcumin and resveratrol inhibit MMP
- Avoiding immune destruction: The immune system plays a crucial role in recognizing and eliminating cancer cells. However, tumors can evade immune surveillance through various mechanisms, including the suppression of immune responses or the expression of immune checkpoint proteins. Immune-based therapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors or adoptive cell transfer, aim to overcome immune evasion and unleash the body’s natural defenses against cancer. You can recruit your immune system back into working for you, by restoring optimal gut function, nutrients, botanicals and diet.
- Deregulating cellular energetics: Cancer cells exhibit altered metabolism, favoring glycolysis and nutrient uptake to support their rapid growth and proliferation. Targeting metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells represents a promising therapeutic strategy. Approaches such as dietary interventions, metabolic inhibitors, or fasting-mimicking diets aim to disrupt cancer cell metabolism and inhibit tumor growth. Fasting, diet, nutrients and botanicals can all target cancers altered cell metabolism
In conclusion, understanding the hallmarks of cancer provides valuable insights into the underlying biological processes driving tumor development and progression. By targeting these hallmarks through a multifaceted approach encompassing conventional therapies, targeted agents, integrative therapies and lifestyle interventions, we can enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatment and improve patient outcomes.