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March-April 2013
Announcements
1804 Cancer Free Miracles!
A Patient Testimony – G. Darrell Olson
In March of 2012, after a routine blood test indicated a substantial rise in my PSA to
80.9, my primary doctor advised me to make an appointment with a recommended urologist. After further testing and a biopsy it was indicated to me that I had stage IV prostate cancer.
The immediate advice from the urologist was to have two hormone blocker shots and
begin radiation treatments immediately. I agreed to the first of the hormone blocker
shots that day and the second shot was scheduled 30 days later. So after the initial
treatment, my wife Bonnie and I left on a long awaited European trip.
Soon after returning from our trip I was advised by a trusted friend to talk to a gentleman
from TEAM UP! Against Cancer named David Bryant, who is a cancer survivor, After
discussing some possible solutions I was advised to speak to a Dr. Izabela Musial who
has offices here in Phoenix and had some cancer patients that had experienced great
success using a treatment that feature a product called GenEpic. GenEpic was developed by Dr. Steve Osguthorpe of Optimal Health Research in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Inside this issue:
Could Cancer Fighting Virus Be
The Answer?
1
New Drug to Fight Aggressive
Breast Cancer
3
Study Shows How Vitamin E
Can Help Prevent Cancer
4
The Most Promising Cancer
Therapy on the Horizon
4
Hormones. Hormones? Hormones!
5
After fasting and making dietary changes and taking GenEpic twice a day, two months
after beginning this treatment protocol my blood work revealed my PSA was now 6.9
and there are no visible signs of cancer anywhere. At 82 years of age I am cautious to
say that “I am cancer free forever” and by the grace of God tomorrow looks great and I
expect every day thereafter to be the same.
Editor’s Note: For additional information regarding this treatment protocol please contact the offices of Dr. Steven Osguthorpe, ND, Optimal Health Research, 801-264-8561
or www.genepic.com
Could Cancer Fighting Virus Be the Answer?
Scientists have spent decades experimenting with the use of viruses as cancer treatments. And according to some recent study results—they may be onto something BIG!
A privately-held San Francisco company, Jennerex, Inc., worked with a team of scientists, including some from the University of Ottowa, to develop the experimental virus JX
-594.
Team UP! Against Cancer is
part of the Prayer Ministry
at Phoenix First Assembly
in Phoenix, Arizona
According to study results published in the August 31, 2011 edition of the journal Nature, JX-594 is a virus customized to destroy cancer tumors while leaving healthy cells
unaffected. And researchers were equally excited to find that the only side effects were
mild flu-like symptoms that quickly vanished!
No doubt, opponents of genetically-modified-anything are having a fit right now. I think
they should relax a little. I don't think genetic technology is all bad, all the time. Like anything else, we should look at each case on its merits.
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March-April 2013 Announcements
It seems that JX-594 comes from a strain of virus once used to vaccinate children against smallpox. But the scientists
said there's no need to fear an outbreak because the genetic information that would cause viral mutations has been deleted from JX-594.
According to a company statement, researchers administered intravenous JX-594 to 23 patients as treatment for advanced, solid tumors. These tumors had shown themselves resistant to prior treatment efforts. When the investigators
later took biopsies of the tumors, they found that the intravenous doses of JX-594 infected the tumors' blood vessels and
choked off their blood supply.
The research team found that six of the eight patients given the highest doses of the engineered virus saw their tumors
stabilize or shrink. And seven of those eight patients showed evidence that the virus replicated within their tumors—but
not in normal tissues. Were these results just a stroke of good luck? To prove JX-594 is no one-hit wonder, the researchers performed another trial focused on patients with liver cancer. The researchers injected JX-594 directly into
tumors. They then used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor reduction in blood flow to tumors.
The results? In just five days following treatment with JX-594, the researchers observed a significant decrease in the
blood supply to tumors—resulting in their destruction. The virus simply starved the tumors to death.
And best of all, the shutdown of blood flow ONLY affected tumor tissue. The researchers noticed NO significant changes
in blood supply to healthy tissue!
"In addition to targeting, infecting and destroying cancer cells and stimulating a targeted immune response against remaining cancer cells, the analysis presented at AACR [The American Association for Cancer Research] demonstrates
JX-594's critical third mechanism of action—the disruption of the blood supply to the tumor," said David H. Kirn, M.D.,
president and chief executive officer of Jennerex.
The encouraging results from studies such as those conducted by the Jennerex research team have led to a surge of
research investigating similar viruses over the last 15 years. So what does a virus have to do to get a little respect as
a cancer killer? The term 'oncolytic' refers to a virus that can specifically target and destroy tumor cells without damaging surrounding normal tissue. What's more, when these viruses replicate in the target tumor cells, the resulting offspring
infect other malignant cells.
Some oncolytics are naturally occurring, while others can be genetically engineered. Some examples of natural oncolytic
viruses include:
 Myxoma virus
 Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV),
 Reovirus
 Seneca Valley virus
Oncolytic viruses that are genetically engineered include components from viruses such as adenoviruses, Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) and poliovirus.
In order for a virus to be considered safe for use as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists look for a number of positive attributes, including:
 Relatively low ability to produce disease (pathogenicity)
 Ability to replicate in malignant cells
 Easily manipulated genetically
 Ability to be delivered systemically
 Susceptibility to an antiviral drug

Researchers also look for oncolytic viruses that do not cause serious side effects after they are administered.
Studies examining the use of viral therapies aren't unique to the 21st century. A 1912 report documents the regression of
uterine cervical cancer after a patient was injected with a modified rabies vaccine. This same attenuated rabies vaccine
was also used in 1940 to treat cases of melanoma. And there are several documented reports of lymphoblastic leukemia
that waned in the presence of the measles virus. Several large studies have shown that even the common cold and flu
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March-April 2013 Announcements
can have a protective effect against developing cancer!
Based on these and other positive results, the Chinese government approved the clinical use of the adenovirus H101
specifically for treating head and neck cancer.
Perhaps other countries will follow suit and approve such viral therapies. In the meantime, several clinical trials are currently underway to continue exploring the anti-cancer benefits of both natural and genetically engineered viruses.
I believe all modified viruses should be rigorously tested for safety, including long-term safety — not the usual FDA criterion that says a treatment is okay if the patient doesn't keel over dead at once. But if higher standards of safety are met, I
see no reason to reject a virus that kills only cancer tissue and leaves healthy tissue unharmed.
It's possible that "custom viruses" will be used to do great harm — opening new possibilities for germ warfare. But that
can't be helped. Such sick misuses of technology are no reason to reject legitimate uses. I don't believe gene technology
can be repressed — the genie can't be put back in the bottle. So we may as well enjoy the benefits while trying to avoid
the hazards. While we wait for this possible new cancer treatment (and others) to come on stream, the best move is to
AVOID cancer in the first place. SOURCE: Cancer Defeated Newsletter – February 17, 2013
New Drug to Fight Aggressive Breast Cancer
Researchers in the University of Delaware's Department of Biological Sciences are investigating a new drug that has
shown positive results in early tests of its ability to fight a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.
A small, pilot study of the drug found that inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) tumors in mice—which grew to four times
their original size in a 10-day period if untreated—remained stable in size when treated with the drug. When a small
amount of a traditional chemotherapy drug, which has limited effectiveness in IBC, was combined with the new drug, the
number of tumor cells was cut in half.
"It's a nontoxic drug, it's inexpensive, and it's easy to administer," said Kenneth L. van Golen, associate professor of biological sciences and a senior research scientist with the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center at Christiana Care. "To me, it
looks like a home run."
Van Golen specializes in IBC research, and the new drug was first brought to his attention by doctoral student Madhura
Joglekar. She had read about a small pharmaceutical company in Texas that had developed it to gastrointestinal cancer.
But she realized that it was designed to target those tumors in the same kind of way that might be effective with IBC tumors. Specifically, the novel drug targets the platelet-derived growth factor receptor.
IBC is relatively rare, uses a different pathway in which it spreads, or metastasizes, and is much more deadly than the
common form of breast cancer. Receptors in the typical form of the disease are on the outside of the cell, but in IBC they
are on the inside, making them harder to target for treatment.
"This new drug targets receptor molecules and we already knew that's a good approach for IBC," Joglekar said. She
brought the studies to van Golen, who contacted manufacturer Arog Pharmaceuticals, and was given the go-ahead to
work with the drug, which already is in clinical trials with gastrointestinal cancer patients.
In Joglekar's studies with mice, she and van Golen were especially encouraged by the way the drug seems to significantly increase the effectiveness of the usual chemotherapy. This compound effect, van Golen said, might mean that
IBC patients could undergo less extensive chemotherapy, with resulting fewer side effects, than they do now.
Because IBC is highly aggressive, current treatments of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are generally intensive and
harsh. The disease is systemic, spreading rapidly through the lymphatic system, and is often misdiagnosed at first because it resembles an infection more than a traditional form of breast cancer.
Please join us live on the web every Tuesday evening at 7pm (MST) for praise, worship and
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will be blessed!
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March-April 2013 Announcements
That's another reason to be optimistic about the new drug, van Golen said: Because it appears to be so nontoxic, it could
be given to a patient, along with an antibiotic, even before the diagnosis is certain, with no harm done if the condition
turns out to be merely an infection. But if IBC were later diagnosed, the crucial early cancer treatment would have started
without delay.
Joglekar presented the results of the research at an international IBC conference in December, where it received a great
deal of positive notice, van Golen said. If preclinical studies continue to produce promising results, he estimated that the
drug could be used in Phase 3 clinical trials (the final phase before a drug is usually approved for general use) in two to
three years.
Meanwhile, Joglekar said she hopes to conduct longer-term studies on the drug's effects on IBC tumors and on the way
it seems to sensitize cells in those tumors to chemotherapy, making that treatment more effective, and also to explore
exactly how the drug works at the molecular level.
In addition to investigating its interaction with chemotherapy drugs, van Golen plans to study whether it could also augment the effects of radiation treatment. "I think this drug is a real winner," he said. "We just need to learn more about
how to use it." Source: University of Delaware – March 13, 2013
Study Shows How Vitamin E Can Help Prevent Cancer
Researchers have identified an elusive anti-cancer property of vitamin E that has long been presumed to exist, but difficult to find. Many animal studies have suggested that vitamin E could prevent cancer, but human clinical trials following
up on those findings have not shown the same benefits.
In this new work, researchers showed in prostate cancer cells that one form of vitamin E inhibits the activation of an enzyme that is essential for cancer cell survival. The loss of the enzyme, called Akt, led to tumor cell death. The vitamin
had no negative effect on normal cells.
"This is the first demonstration of a unique mechanism of how vitamin E can have some benefit in terms of cancer prevention and treatment," said lead author Ching-Shih Chen, professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at The
Ohio State University and an investigator in Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study appears in the
March 19, 2013, issue of the journal Science Signaling.
Chen cautioned that taking a typical vitamin E supplement won't offer this benefit for at least two reasons: The most affordable supplements are synthetic and based predominantly on a form of the vitamin that did not fight cancer as effectively in this study, and the human body can't absorb the high doses that appear to be required to achieve the anticancer effect.
"Our goal is to develop a safe pill at the right dose that people could take every day for cancer prevention. It takes time
to optimize the formulation and the dose," he said. Chen has filed an invention disclosure with the university, and Ohio
State has filed a patent application for the agent.
Vitamin E occurs in numerous forms based on their chemical structure, and the most commonly known form belongs to a
variety called tocopherols. In this study, researchers showed that, of the tocopherols tested, the gamma form of tocopherol was the most potent anti-cancer form of the vitamin.
The scientists manipulated the structure of that vitamin E molecule and found that the effectiveness of this new agent
they created was 20-fold higher than the vitamin itself in cells. In experiments in mice, this agent reduced the size of
prostate cancer tumors. SOURCE: Ohio State University – March 18,2013.
The Most Promising Cancer Therapy on the Horizon
Not all cancer news is grim. In fact, in the world of cancer research a major breakthrough that has the potential to impact a wide range of cancers may well be on the horizon. A national team of renowned scientists from 8 top cancer institutes has been making impressive advances in the study of cancer immunotherapy, a field of research that seeks to harness the power of the body’s immune system to battle cancer. Funded by Stand Up to Cancer and Cancer Research
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March-April 2013 Announcements
Institute and led by James P. Allison, Ph.D and Antoni Ribas, M.D. Ph.D, this team’s hope is to soon discover immunebased solutions to curing the disease.
Scientists in the field of cancer immunotherapy have long theorized that specific medical interventions could stimulate
and “re-educate” patients’ own immune systems to combat cancer. Allison and Ribas’ team, called the Cancer Immunology Translational Research Dream Team, have taken a 2-pronged approach.
One prong is based around adoptive cell therapy (ACT), which focuses on a type of cancer cell-killing white blood cell
called the T lymphocyte. Allison’s team is developing and testing multiple ACTs and exploring the theory that when Tcells are exposed to a particular tumor, the immune system can develop T-cells that specifically attack that cancer.
The scientists will remove lymphocytes from patients, take them outside the body and manipulate those T-cells to become better at recognizing and killing a particular cancer. The researchers will grow those cells to large numbers and reinfuse them into the body, in essence helping the lymphocytes do a better job of attacking and destroying a patient’s
cancer.
The team’s second focus has to do with the fact that lymphocytes have inhibitory receptors, known as “checkpoints.”
These checkpoints can put the brakes on immune responses, which cancers take advantage of to escape attack. The
scientists are investigating the use of specific antibodies to block checkpoints so they do not slow immune response.
By combining adoptive cell and inhibitory receptor therapies, scientists believe they can develop hybrid treatments to
extend the lives of cancer patients.
“Everyone’s optimistic,” says Allison. Unlike radiation therapies that target tumors and kill cells quickly but only last in the
body for a few hours, the T-lymphocytes, “can roam all over the body and last for your life—they have permanence and
mobility,” he says. “We are not going to cure all cancers in next few years,” Allison says, but in terms of treating cancer
as a whole, “we will be making progress.” SOURCE: Take Part.com – March 17, 2013
Hormones. Hormones? Hormones!
It used to be so easy. Patients with ER-positive breast cancer got 5 years of tamoxifen (Drug information on tamoxifen).
You could anticipate most of the side effects, explain it, patients were happy not to be on chemotherapy. No one showed
up with an armload of internet downloads ready to debate the utility of hormone therapy, the risks, and metabolism or
drug interactions.
No more. Now we have (thankfully) aromatase inhibitors for postmenopausal patients. We currently use 5 years, but I
know there are doctors who just leave high-risk women on them “for life.” The extension trial data is not out yet, but the
recent ATLAS trial tells us to leave tamoxifen patients on that drug for 10 years.
What are you doing with the T1a N0, strongly ER-positive patient who just finished 5 years of tamoxifen? I know I am
having a lot of long talks with my patients about what is right for them. I honestly do not have strong confidence I know
what the best practice for every scenario is. Much of it is dictated by the way the patient has tolerated tamoxifen and how
committed they are to continuing it for another 5 years. Thankfully, many patients who ask about it are barely into their
first 5 years so we can forgo that decision for a bit as the data shakes out. Some changes I jump into, others not so
much. You?
CYP2D6. Somebody please answer that question decisively and permanently! Do we need to test all patients for genetic
alterations? Matthew Goetz, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, would say yes. Do we have to change their antidepressants? Does
it make a difference in survival? If you are an extensive metabolizer, can you just take tamoxifen for 5 years (or maybe
10) and not switch to an aromatase inhibitor? We need to know. I cannot get a consensus among my own partners, one
of whom did estrogen receptor research before going into clinical practice. We need the Ten Commandments of hormonal therapy. What gives the best outcome for our patients? What are premenopausal women supposed to do if they are
PLEASE NOTE: TEAM UP! AGAINST CANCER does not recommend any form of treatment,
medication or vitamin/herbal supplements. The information provided herein is for informational and educational purposes only. Please consult your own health advisor or doctor regarding your personal health matters.
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March-April 2013 Announcements
poor metabolizers?
Hormone therapy is apparently a new gold mine. You must have the same TV ads in your area. We have multiple
“natural hormone” replacement practices and the ads are all the same theme. The woman sits with her husband behind
her and talks about how her life has changed with natural hormone therapy. She openly declares and her husband confirms that she is now hot all the time, but not from hot flashes. She also predicts that she is going to lose that extra
weight she has been carrying for the last 40 years, plus she is going to get her college degree and land her dream job!
The fact that she is 55 to 65 years old and had plenty of estrogen coursing through her veins all those premenopausal
years, and yet never lost her postpartum pounds and never exhibited a passing interest in furthering her education
should not detract from the message that hormone therapy will make your life amazing.
I have yet to see any small print disclaimer at the bottom of the screen about the risks of hormone therapy. If that were a
pharma company making such claims you know they would be required to have a host of small print and fast talking actors to “balance” the message. Why are the hormone palaces allowed such unbridled freedom? New breast cancer patients still come in and say they have been on hormone therapy for 10, 15, 20 years and when asked what it was originally started for it is sometimes for severe hot flashes, but one woman told me last week that her doctor told her if she
didn’t take it she would “look like an old woman” in a few years. Oh, well in that case.
We now have low T clinics here. If Victoria’s Secret didn’t have so many catalogs, maybe there wouldn’t be such so
many feelings of inadequacy. But, again, how are they allowed to manipulate consumers to seek prescriptions for drugs
with such unrestrained, unregulated messages.
We all want our patients to be healthy and happy. If I prescribe a medication, I want to feel confident that I am offering a
necessary treatment and that I have educated the patient about the risks and benefits. That is why we all want the best
information on how to proceed with hormonal manipulation for breast cancer patients. I look forward to your comments
and advice. Source: Rebecca Bechhold, MD, Oncologist, Cincinnati, Ohio - March 6, 2013
Contacting Dr. Mary Ruth Swope for Nutritional Information: If you are a patient or a member
of a patient’s family please feel free to contact Dr. Swope to discuss your nutritional needs.
Dr. Mary Ruth is available to answer your questions and you may contact her through Team
UP! Against Cancer, or directly at 480-634-4846 or via her direct email at [email protected]
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who
comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received
from God” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)
WHO WE ARE:
Team UP! Against Cancer is a faith based cancer support group made up of cancer survivors and their families extending a helping hand to cancer patients and their families both in the Church and in the community.
WHAT WE DO:
Through information packets, books and articles, we attempt to address the questions of:

What resources and support groups are available?

Learning about your cancer, it’s diagnosis and treatment options.

Addressing the needs of a newly diagnosed patient.
MAY WE PRAY FOR YOU?

Team you UP with a cancer survivor who has the same type of cancer.
Team UP! was started in August 2006 as a cancer support group under the Prayer Ministry at Phoenix First Assembly in Arizona. We have assembled
an intercessory prayer team of over 111,000 people around the world praying for our patients and families.
POB 22018 Phoenix, AZ 85028 602-740-8333 web: www.teamupagainstcancer.org...email: [email protected]