Fighting Cancer Stem Cells Is Key In Effective Cancer Treatment

Cancer Stem Cell The rapid uncontrolled growth and duplication of cells is what leads to cancer. The rapid and uncontrolled division of cells is caused by mutations in the DNA that inhibit the vital functions of natural tumor suppressors while signaling some genes to hasten cell division. Currently in the entire world cancer is among the most feared diseases that are causing millions of people to lose their lives earlier than they should. In the United Kingdom alone, about 275,000 are diagnosed with cancer every year and about 150,000 of this people die. Most of these patients die after attempting many cancer treatments both conventional and other new alternative cancer treatments. Evidently they die because the treatments they opt for are not effective enough to treat this disease. Most of these treatments focus on killing the cancer cells which may only help in extending the lives of the cancer patients but do nothing to treat the patient. Some of the cancer treatments that focus on cancer cells may relieve the patients of the symptoms of the disease and assume treatment within sometimes but the disease will re-occur since the disease is not targeted from the roots. Most of these treatments will control cancer by inhibiting the growth of cancer cells or killing the cancer cells, other treatments may combine both approaches in fighting cancer. These treatments will work in cancer treatments but unfortunately the disease will re-occur. Therefore it is crucial to understand why this disease may re-occur after ‘successful’ treatment so that alternative therapies can be used to completely do away with this disease in the patients.

Cancer often reoccurs after treatment because in a tumor there are very many different cancer cells that might not be destroyed by the treatment. A treatment may target a certain type of cancer cell while the other cells are not targeted. This many lead to the other untargeted cells to grow and divide.

Normal Stem cells are able to renew and regenerate damaged tissues. New research shows that cancer cells may originate from the normal stem cells. Basically just like the normal stem cells the cancer stem cells are able to self renew and duplicate. The stem cancer theory proposes that within the tumors there are some cancer cells that act as stem cells that duplicate themselves rapidly hence sustaining the tumor just like the normal stem cells normally regenerate worn out tissues and renew the health of our organs. This view on cancer cell survival mechanisms shows that cancer cells may attack our bodies but may not be able to sustain the tumor for a long time therefore it is the cancer stem cells that are much of a problem in cancer treatment.

The discovery of the crucial role that cancer stem cells play in the growth and spread of cancer helps a great deal. This helps us realize that using the cancer treatments methods that only focus on the killing and shrinking of tumors may not help in the long run if the cancer stem cells are not targeted and destroyed. It is often quite unfortunate that cancer cells that are reoccurring row with such a resistance to chemotherapy drugs. Therefore cancer therapies that are only evaluated on their abilities to kill cancerous cells and shrink the tumors should be encourage for use if the patients needs to be cancer free – which I guess all cancer patients hopes for. As I have always said farmers may know this better than doctors. The best way to do away with a weed is to uproot it from the ground leaving no root in the soil. However low a weed is cut, if a single root is left in the soil then it will grow again. So treating cancer effectively will only be achieved by doing away with the cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are also very important in cancer metastasis hence should be targeted for a more affective cancer treatment.

Foods that inhibit growth of cancer stem cells

Nutrition plays a major role in controlling the growth of cancer cells in our bodies. The foods you eat will either put you at risk of cancer or help you even stay safer from the disease. Cancer stem cells play a great role in tumor growth and metastasis and therefore foods that inhibit the growth of cancer stem cells to be on the safer side. Researchers have done much to avail us best foods that can help us evade the risk of cancer. Most of these foods are nature given and are rich in cancer fighting properties. Here are three dietary compounds that inhibit growth of cancer stem cells.

v piperine found in black pepper

v Curcumin found in turmeric.

v Sulforaphane found in broccoli and broccoli sprouts.

These three dietary components have been proved to inhibit the growth of cancer stem cells by interfering with their signaling pathways. The cancer stem cell pathways have been studied by scientists especially on the ability of these cancer stem cells to renew themselves and these pathways are evident in most types of cancers therefore the use of these dietary compounds that inhibit the functions of these pathways will help in treatment of all cancers.

Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an experienced integrative cancer doctor that has helped many cancer patients in their fight against the disease. She has worked hard not only in treating the disease but also in availing informational support to cancer patients at Awaremed which has become a place called home for many cancer patients. Call on her now and get help on cancer.