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PEMF

Cancer

Cancer
Index
Unique features of Cancer cells
Primer for Cancer Terms
Links for Summary of Research Papers

Go to UREBS Reference Design: Uniform Rotary Exciter Burst Sine

Nestronics is a supporter of the concept that all matter and life has been designed, and the designer is our Lord and God. He is worthy of all praise, as His creation is truely amazing.

Unique features (Hallmarks) of Cancer cells:

By understanding the differences of Normals cells and Cancer cells, we can understand how Cancer cells can be targeted for cell death and not normal cells. The best therapeutic approach would be a treatment that improves the health of normal cells (or does not affect them) and selectively targets the cancer cells for death. Chemotherapy for example tries to target Cancers, but also affects normal cells which is why people get so sick from Chemotherapy.

1. High ROS
"Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are a hallmark of cancer."
A change in ROS lower or higher can kill cancer cells.

2. Warburg effect (meaning glucose[sugar] addiction)
"Cancer cells exhibit aerobic glycolysis. This means that cancer cells derive most of their energy from glycolysis that is glucose is converted to lactate for energy followed by lactate fermentation, even when oxygen is available. This is termed the Warburg effect"
   Glutamine and Glucose
"...increasing evidence has shown that many tumours require glutamine as well as glucose for their proliferation and survival"
This means the preferred nutrient of cancer cells is glucose.

3. Higher iron and demand
"A large number of studies have shown that abnormal iron homeostasis is one of the markers of cancer (Table 1). As the metabolism and proliferation rate of tumor cells are generally higher than that of normal cells, so their demand for iron is also significantly higher than that of normal cells, this leading to the exceeding oxidative stress;"

4. Higher Copper
"Interestingly, a growing body of research reports that diverse cancers have raised serum and tumor copper levels. Tumor cells depend on more copper for their metabolism than normal cells, and a decrease in copper or copper overload can have a detrimental effect on tumor cells."

5.Lack Catalase activity
"Moreover, cancer cells generally lack catalase activity, making them extra vulnerable to oxidative stress."

6. Lower Oxygen Levels
"During the past century it has been established that regions within solid tumours experience mild to severe O2 deprivation owing to aberrant vascular function. These hypoxic regions are associated with altered cellular metabolism, as well as increased resistance to radiation and chemotherapy."

7. Higher GSH (Glutathione) Levels
"...cancer cells are affluent with high antioxidant levels, especially with GSH, whose appearance at an elevated concentration of ∼10 mM (10 times less in normal cells) detoxifies the cancer cells."
"Therefore, GSH depletion can be assumed to be the key strategy to amplify the oxidative stress in cancer cells, enhancing the destruction of cancer cells by fruitful cancer therapy."

8. Electrical differences
"Cancer cells differ significantly in their electrical properties from normal cells."
    "Compared to normal tissues, cancer tissues exhibit higher capacitance values..."
    "...larger permittivity and conductivity than normal tissues. This might be associated with the fact that tumour cells have a higher water content and sodium concentration than normal cells"
Electrical differences may also help explain how changing magnetic fields could produce a differential change in ROS from normal to cancer cells.

9. pH differences
"Malignant tissues show a peculiar feature regarding pH: while normal tissues have a higher extracellular pH than intracellular pH, in cancer is exactly the opposite. This phenomenon is called the inversion of the pH gradient and is now considered a hallmark of malignancy. "

10. Other differences
"For instance, cancerous cells are characterized by higher concentrations of salt and chlorine [6, 7] but lower concentrations of potassium, calcium, zinc, and magnesium than healthy cells. The ionic composition within cancerous cells is altered because their cell membrane permeability has been compromised. A study comparing normal and cancer cells of the large intestine reported that cancer cells differed from normal cells in their membrane makeup [8]. "

Primer for Cancer Terms

Cancer cell:
"A cancer cell is a natural but immature cell in the body that has developed mutations in its DNA"

Warburg Effect(energy for Cancer cell):
"In contrast to normal differentiated cells, which rely primarily on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to generate the energy needed for cellular processes, most cancer cells instead rely on aerobic glycolysis, a phenomenon termed “the Warburg effect.” "
"For most mammalian cells in culture, the only two molecules catabolized in appreciable quantities are glucose and glutamine."
"This may explain at least part of the selective advantage provided by the Warburg effect, a hypothesis supported by recent 13C–nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements showing that glioblastoma cells in culture convert as much as 90% of glucose and 60% of glutamine they acquire into lactate or alanine;"

ATP (Adenosine triphosphate):
"Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the source of energy for use and storage at the cellular level."

DNA:
"Deoxyribonucleic acid (abbreviated DNA) is the molecule that carries genetic information for the development and functioning of an organism."

H2O2, Hydrogen Peroxide:
" Actually, the formation of hydrogen peroxide in cells is an attempt by the body to protect itself from an even more dangerous substance, superoxide. " "But we have ... a defence system, in this case an enzyme called “superoxide dismutase” that gets rid of superoxide by converting it into hydrogen peroxide, which although potentially dangerous, is less dangerous than superoxide. Still, it does present a risk and this is where catalase enters the picture. It breaks the peroxide down into oxygen and water. And that is why hydrogen peroxide foams when poured onto liver."
H2O2 levels higher in Cancer Cells
"Recently, evidence is accumulating to suggest that cancer cell mitochondria may produce greater steady-state levels of O2•− and H2O2, relative to normal cells (Aykin-Burns, Ahmad, Zhu, Oberley, & Spitz, 2009)."
"Experimental data have shown that cancer cells produce high amounts of H2O2."

Catalase:
"Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals) which catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen.[5] It is a very important enzyme in protecting the cell from oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS)."
"Cancer cells have a reduced (10 to 100 fold) intracellular level of catalase."

Calcium Ion Ca+2:
"Calcium ion (Ca2+) signaling is critical to many physiological processes, and its kinetics and subcellular localization are tightly regulated in all cell types. All Ca2+ flux perturbations impact cell function and may contribute to various diseases, including cancer."

Iron, transitional metal:
"Iron is necessary for almost all forms of life, ranging from bacteria to humans. It contributes to a number of essential biological processes, including DNA replication, the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), and electron transport in mitochondria [1]. However, iron can also catalyze reactions that lead to the production of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) (e.g., the Fenton reaction) [2, 3]. " (Double edge sword)
Liver is also a storage house for iron

Copper, transitional metal:
"Copper [Cu(II)] is an ubiquitous transition and trace element in living organisms. It increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free-radical generation that might damage biomolecules like DNA, proteins, and lipids."

Fenton reaction:
"A chemical reaction between iron and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) yielding the highly toxic free radicals, which in turn can spark lipid peroxidation"
Formula "Fe2+ + H2O2 → Fe3+ + HO• + OH−
Fe3+ + H2O2 → Fe2+ + HOO• + H+
2 H2O2 → HO• + HOO• + H2O net reaction
The free radicals generated by this process engage in secondary reactions. For example, the hydroxyl is a powerful, non-selective oxidant.[6] "

Ascorbic acid (vitamin c):
"Vitamin C is an essential nutrient involved in the repair of tissue, the formation of collagen, and the enzymatic production of certain neurotransmitters. It is required for the functioning of several enzymes and is important for immune system function."
Ascorbic Acid, Different levels in different Organs
"homeostasis ranging from about 0.2 mM in the muscle and heart, and up to 10 mM in the brain and adrenal gland. "
(Note the Oncomagnetic success in the brain also was then under conditions of high Vitamin C)
Ascorbic Acid, Electron donor
"Ascorbic acid is an electron donor"
Ascorbic Acid, can be a Pro-oxidant
"The pro-oxidative activity of ascorbic acid (Figure 2) is associated with the interaction with transition metal ions (especially iron and copper). Under conditions of high, millimolar ascorbate concentration, vitamin C catalyzes the reduction of free transition metal ions, which causes the formation of oxygen radicals."
Ascorbic Acid, formation of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide)
"Many studies indicate the toxicity of ascorbate to cancer cells, although the exact mechanism of this effect has not been elucidated. Much evidence indicates that the underlying phenomenon is the pro-oxidative activity of ascorbate, which induces the formation of H2O2 and oxidative stress [37,38,39]."
"ascorbate at concentrations achieved only by i.v. administration may be a pro-drug for formation of H(2)O(2)"

ROS, reactive oxygen species. Double edge sword"
"Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are two electron reduction products of oxygen, including superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, lipid peroxides, protein peroxides and peroxides formed in nucleic acids 1. They are maintained in a dynamic balance by a series of reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions in biological systems and act as signaling molecules to drive cellular regulatory pathways."
"During different stages of cancer formation, abnormal ROS levels play paradoxical roles in cell growth and death 8. A physiological concentration of ROS that maintained in equilibrium is necessary for normal cell survival. Ectopic ROS accumulation promotes cell proliferation and consequently induces malignant transformation of normal cells by initiating pathological conversion of physiological signaling networks. Excessive ROS levels lead to cell death by damaging cellular components, including proteins, lipid bilayers, and chromosomes. Therefore, both scavenging abnormally elevated ROS to prevent early neoplasia and facilitating ROS production to specifically kill cancer cells are promising anticancer therapeutic strategies, in spite of their contradictoriness and complexity."
"ROS are the collection of derivatives of molecular oxygen that occur in biology, which can be categorized into two types, free radicals and non-radical species. The non-radical species are hydrogen peroxide (H 2O 2 ), organic hydroperoxides (ROOH), singlet molecular oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), electronically excited carbonyl, ozone (O3 ), hypochlorous acid (HOCl, and hypobromous acid HOBr). Free radical species are super-oxide anion radical (O 2•−), hydroxyl radical (•OH), peroxyl radical (ROO•) and alkoxyl radical (RO•) [130]. Any imbalance of ROS can lead to adverse effects. H2 O 2 and O 2 •− are the main redox signalling agents. The cellular concentration of H2 O 2 is about 10−8 M, which is almost a thousand times more than that of O2 •−".
"Radicals are molecules with an odd number of electrons in the outer shell [393,394]. A pair of radicals can be formed by breaking a chemical bond or electron transfer between two molecules."

Anti-oxidants:
"Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation (usually occurring as autoxidation), a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals."
For example Vitamin C (normally Antioxidant), Vitamin e, and Trolox are anti-oxidants.

Glutathione (GSH):
"...intracellular glutathione (GSH) exhibits an astounding antioxidant activity in scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS)..."
"Cancer cells have a high level of GSH compared to normal cells."
"...cancer cells are affluent with high antioxidant levels, especially with GSH, whose appearance at an elevated concentration of ∼10 mM (10 times less in normal cells) detoxifies the cancer cells."
"Therefore, GSH depletion can be assumed to be the key strategy to amplify the oxidative stress in cancer cells, enhancing the destruction of cancer cells by fruitful cancer therapy."

Chemotherapy:
"Most chemotherapeutics elevate intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and many can alter redox-homeostasis of cancer cells"
Most chemotherapy target DNA, which increases ROS resulting in cell death. Note the Chemotherapy affects all cells, hoping cancer cells die first.

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