Page 146I see no point in going through a whole series of markers. You’ll hear of
carbohydrate 19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen or CEA. Then Carbohydrate 15-
3 and 27-29; these last two seem to relate to breast cancer. VEGF Test (vascular-
endothelial growth factor). This indicates whether cancer is developing its own
blood supply. If we know this, specific treatment can be applied to halt new
blood vessel growth. Without a blood supply a fast-growing cancer would soon
starve and die. In fact shark’s cartilage seems to have some benefit in blocking
this signaling substance.
Another significant test is TGF-Beta. It stands for transforming growth factor.
Cancer cells produce a lot of this chemical, which suppresses the immune
system, so it’s worth tracking.
Some of the markers are not really specific to cancer but still get used. Tests like
pyruvate kinase and lactic acid simply measure metabolism. Tumors, remember,
are pretty active metabolically.
You don’t need to remember all these names. You can study more about them
on my website or at cancer-gov. I’m really only mentioning them because of Dr
Kobayashi’s work in Japan, which I’ll come to in a moment.
First, let me tell you about a couple of alternative cancer markers you probably
WON’T be told about by your doctor!
Telomerase
The enzyme telomerase produces telomeres, located at the ends of each
chromosome. These protect the ends of chromosomes as cells divide. In a
normal cell, the telomeres break up and shorten each time the cell divides. After
a cell divides 50 to 100 times, the telomeres shorten so much that they can no
longer protect the chromosome, and the cell eventually dies. Remember this
information, though, comes from scientists who know next to nothing about
nutrition!
We now know that cancerous cells seem to be able to switch telomerase back
on. In fact cancer cells can keep it going indefinitely, which is why they have this
fantastic capability for dividing over and over, seemingly immortal.
Thus telomerase is bad news, which is why we monitor it and why you want to
watch it fall on your therapy program. The telomerase test was originally a urine