Killing cancer, not the cancer sufferer (Targeting & defeating cancer while leaving healthy cells unaffected)

On Sunday, December 7 (2014) CBS’s famed 60 Minutes devoted a thirteen-minute segment titled “Disrupting Cancer” to physician and billionaire businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD‘s advocacy and use of the rapid gene sequencing of tumor cells to help zero in specific drugs or other agents that will eradicate them. Later the same day, Forbes’s writer Matthew Herper published an article in which he stated something virtually everyone doing cancer work knows, namely that “Everyone is looking to use DNA sequencing to better pick cancer drugs. And in some ways, Soon-Shiong is an odd person to pick as a spokesperson for this, because he’s just getting started. ” (Here Is What ’60 Minutes’ Didn’t Tell You About The Billionaire Who Is Trying To Disrupt Cancer Care).

This is not to say that with Dr. Soon-Shiong’s deep pockets and an army of computer experts and researchers he will not wind up making major inroads in this area of biomedicine. And with cancer striking so many, progress is welcome whether it comes out of a one-person lab or a research enterprise that fills buildings or is stretched across many continents.

Nova Cells is no stranger to finding ways to “disrupt cancer”. It has, in fact, focused on a treatment approach that combines attacking tumors using donor immune cells (from healthy young people) and specific compounds that gum up the inner machinery in cancer cells while leaving healthy cells. It has been a spectacularly successful quest that started with the treatment of a 71-year-old gentleman from the Pacific Northwest who was in the last throes of end-stage prostate cancer that had spread into his liver and bones. He was, in fact, so bad off that NCIM doctors thought he might not live more than a handful of days, at best. But, like so many people struggling with cancer, he was a spirited fighter who simply would not entertain abandoning hope until, as he put it, “I take my last breath”.

This determined chap knew the score going into treatment, namely that he was volunteering to undergo something very experimental in nature. But he was resolutely committed to “fighting the good fight”, even if this pitched battle proved his last. Seeing his determined spirit, the MDs set about stabilizing him to help ensure he could handle the biological blitzkrieg (lightning war) that NCIM’s experimental tumor-killing method was expected to unleash in his body.

Three days later the doctors began daily treatments using cancer-fighting cells (called granulocytes) that had been previously isolated from the blood of many young, healthy volunteers and then combined and infused by intravenous (IV) means. In addition, he was to be given intentionally HLA mismatched umbilical cord stem cells.

If the treatment worked as anticipated, the donor granulocytes would attack the tumors and also send a “wake up call” to the immune system, i.e., alert the fellow’s own immune cells that something alien was present which they would then attack (One problem in cancer is that tumors send out biochemical signals that suppress the sufferer’s own innate tumor-fighting cells). In addition, the HLA mismatched umbilical cord blood stem cells would be attracted by growth factors secreted by the tumors, attach to them, and then be attacked by the patient’s own immune cells which would react to them as a foreign presence.

The outcome? He did had a mild immune reaction (rash) that was easily suppressed using an IV antihistamine. This is how NCIM’s own patient care coordinator summed up what transpired:

“Within three days his face was pinkish and his hands were getting pink. He was eating so well that the staff could not believe it. After the 7th primed donor granulocyte treatment, he was walking 1/2 mile around the hospital, and feeling great. He was feeling so good in fact that he decided to return to his home state of Washington to finish up a million-dollar real estate deal. NCIM doctors and staff protested wanting him to finish the entire course of therapy but he was adamant about getting home but promised to return and complete his care once his real estate deal was completed. This he did. By October his US oncologist reported that his PSA is 1.1, his prostate is smaller than a normal 20-year-olds, and he could find no cancer at all. Also, his Alkaline Phosphatase level which was about 2,000 during his treatment had dropped to something around 89.”

This fellow remains in full remission to this day.

Following this exciting clinical success, other end-stage cancer patients were treated (prostate, breast, lung, others) using the same method. Fifty percent (50%) experienced tumor shrinkage (partial remission) while the rest (50%) went into full remission.

In addition, other cancer-fighting measures were tested both alone and in combination with the donor granulocytes & cord blood stem cells (Gr-UCSC). Those that resulted in tumor shrinkage or obliteration when used alone, as well as those that bolstered the anti-cancer impact of the Gr-UCSCs, were retained.

Among these were two chemical compounds that throw a monkey wrench into the tiny power-generating factories (mitochondria) in tumor cells but do not adversely affect normal cells. They are, in technical parlance Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, selective for malignant cells.

NCIM also selectively utilizes a unique injectable protein that amplifies the cancer-fighting activity of a patient’s own macrophages.

Returning now to that 60 Minutes segment: Dr. Soon-Shiong beamed about tackling cancer at an immunological level. Nova Cells doctors and staff wish him well in this quest, but can’t help adding that in many ways we left the starting gate years ago and are “already there” (That is, have made demonstrable progress and enjoyed great success).

If you’d like to know more about NCIM’s cancer treatment method, just click these links:

Click to read more about NCIM’s Gr-UCSC method of treating cancer

Click to access cancer patient write-ups

You can also email or call NCIM:

Email NCIM at NCInfodesk@gmail.com

 Call NCIM at 1-562-916-3410 

Nova Cells Healing Touch – Spina Bifida Edition (2013)

Click this link to access the NOVA CELLS HEALING TOUCH newsletter, Spina Bifida Edition: http://ncimx.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/nova-cells-healing-touch.pdf

February 2013 update on Spencer Tomc (spina bifida) by his Mum, Jennifer

On November 13, 2012, we had the privilege of heading back down to Nova Cells Institute in Mexico for another stem cell treatment for our son Spencer.  He has been doing great since the last treatment and we wanted to keep up his progress and see more improvements.  We were excited because this treatment would be new for Spencer in the sense he would be getting stem cell “Beacon (or homing) Factor” which was developed by NCIM’s chief biochemist, Abel Pena.

The day was perfect!  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and spent the morning by the pool basking in the sunshine and warmth.  Abel and Grace picked us up at the hotel and it was like being reunited with family after more than a year.   We made the trip to Tijuana in record time and got into the hospital where the doctors were waiting for Spencer’s arrival.  Once we checked in, we were settled into our room and Spencer was taken to the OR (Operating Room) for his treatment.  As usual, Abel was in the OR with him which helped him to relax.

Within 30 minutes or less, Spencer came back down and was taken to the recovery room.  The MDs told us the procedure went well and he needed to lay flat for 30 minutes or so.  Spencer was groggy and still wondering when he was going to get his treatment!  We had to explain several times that his treatment was over and that he had received the stem cells.  Within an hour, he was drinking juice and eating small bites of food (mostly Jell-O to feed the stem cells with some sugar).  He generously gave his sherbet to his big brother and proceeded to play video games and watch movies.

By 4:30 pm we were able to get him dressed and ready to leave.  Abel and Grace picked us back up and we headed out for dinner at a local restaurant.  Following dinner, we visited a local shopping mall for a bit of Mexican atmosphere and treats, and then headed back across the border into the US.   Everything went so smoothly – we know God was with us the entire time!

Since the procedure, we have seen so many changes in Spencer from growth spurts to more muscles firing.  His legs are better aligned in his hips – specifically, the muscles in the right leg are firing evenly instead of pulling his right leg outward.  He has started to bend his left knee and wiggles his toes more and it is much easier for him to get to his knees and maintain a kneeling position.  He even told me last week that “he is wiggling his toes” when he usually says “my toes are wiggling”.  The changes we see are new and exciting and seem to be happening with each and every passing day.

We thank God for the knowledge and caring hearts He’s given to Abel and Grace Pena and all the people connected with NCIM.  We are also thankful that we’ve been able to take Spencer for two treatments and can’t wait to see what new things he’s going to do tomorrow and the day after!

2nd Patient treated for advanced cancer by NCIM

7-22-11: A gentleman with advanced disseminated prostate cancer with metastases to the bone flew into Mexico a few days ago (from Croatia) to begin the NCIM cancer-fighting program. He has had 2 treatments to-date and has already experienced his color return to normal and strength return to his arms. The attending MDs and RNs are flabbergasted, as is this fellow’s daughter who flew in with him. Though these are just initial responses they closely parallel those seen in the 1st patient and for this reason have everyone involved quite excited and enthused! More to follow as this chap gets further into his 3 week course-of-therapy.

8-26-2011: The patient returned to his home in Eastern Europe and continues to improve, according to family and close associates. NCIM is now awaiting receipt of a medical assessment from his primary care physician.

1-12-2012: The patient’s daughter sent an email to NCIM indicating that her father has no pain whatsoever and is off of all morphine (He was utterly dependent on morphine to control intractable cancer-related pain at the time of his Nova Cell Institute treatment in 2011.) NCIM staffers are trying to arrange to get a status update from his primary care MD in Croatia.