Cancer book -Chapter 5

Cell Biology
Before we get into the causes of cancer, it is important that we
obtain a grasp of the basics of biology as well as define the terms
which will be used throughout the remainder of this book. So, let’s
get started, shall we?
God has made our bodies in a miraculous way. Our heart pumps
blood through our veins, arteries, and capillaries to every cell in our
body. Imagine that your body is a country and the cells are its
citizens. In order for the country to be strong, its citizens must have
various jobs, proper tools to perform those jobs, proper nutrition to
stay healthy, a transportation system, a communication system, a
waste disposal system, a safe place to rest, and protection from toxins
who wish to do them harm. Our goal is to provide our cells with all
of these requirements.
“Cancer does not cause cells to turn anaerobic, but
rather it is stabilized anaerobic respiration that is the
single cause (or essential requirement) that turns the
normal cells that depend on aerobic respiration into
cancer cells.” Dr. David Gregg
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Just like people, our cells come in all shapes and sizes, and they all
have different abilities and jobs. But they are all essential to the
health of your body. The “trash collector” cells are just as important
as the “food server” cells and the “communication” cells. All of our
cells are highly structured. At the center of a cell is its nucleus,
which is basically the equivalent of a “brain.” The nucleus is
covered by a plasma membrane. Interestingly, other than red blood
cells, all of the cells in our bodies have a nucleus.
Extending from the nucleus to the cell membrane (the “skin” of the
cell) are cell fibers, which are basically the cell’s scaffolding. These
cell fibers also serve as the “muscles” of the cells, allowing the cell to
contract and expand into different shapes. This ability to change
shapes is called “pleomorphism.” In these cell fibers are embedded
organelles, which are like “little organs,” since each of them has a
specific function. As I mentioned, the cell “skin” is called a
membrane which is made of protein molecules. Some of these
proteins act like a “name tag” to identify the type of cell, while other
proteins act as a “door” to the cell.
Healthy cells are aerobic, meaning that they function properly in
the presence of sufficient oxygen. Healthy cells metabolize (burn)
oxygen and glucose (blood sugar) to produce adenosine triphosphate
(ATP), which is the energy “currency” of the cells. This process is
referred to as aerobic respiration (or aerobic metabolism). This cycle
of creating energy, called the Krebs Cycle, takes place in the
mitochondria, which are organelles composed of an outer membrane
and an inner membrane. The enzymes used to produce energy lie on
top of the inner membrane.
ATP is composed of three phosphates. The breaking of the bond
between the second and third phosphates releases the energy to
power virtually all cellular processes. Amazingly, we all generate
enough metabolic energy to produce our own body weight in ATP
every day just to function! Every second, each of our approximately
60 trillion cells consumes and regenerates 12 million molecules of
ATP. Amazing stuff, huh?
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ATP production is the essential core function of every human cell.
Without it, basic activities such as cellular repair, and protein,
enzyme, hormone, and neurotransmitter synthesis would not occur.
DNA repair and cell reproduction would cease. Many factors such as
aging, poor diet, improper nutrition, and external toxins can impede
this critical energy generation. Negatively charged electrons from
hydrogen are the source of the energy needed to generate this
staggering amount of ATP.
Once the ATP is produced, it is stored in the Golgi bodies of the
mitochondria until it is needed by the cells for their activities. The
byproduct of this energy making process is carbon dioxide. Carbon
dioxide, in turn, is responsible for releasing oxygen from
hemoglobin (red blood cells). The oxygen then is burned to produce
more ATP with more carbon dioxide byproduct, which is then used
to extract the oxygen from hemoglobin. It’s a miraculous state of
continual perpetuity.
When foreign “invaders” enter the body, our immune system comes
to the rescue. The immune system is a collection of cells, chemical
messengers, and proteins that work together to protect the body
from potentially harmful, infectious microbes such as bacteria,
viruses, and fungi, thus the immune system plays a role in the
control of cancer and other diseases. The immune systems’
leukocytes (white blood cells) are our bodies’ #1 protectors. There
are 2 main subgroups of leukocytes. The first subgroup is called
polymorphonuclear leukocytes (also called granulocytes). These
leukocytes are filled with granules of toxic chemicals that enable
them to digest microbes by a process called phagocytosis (literally
“cell-eating”). Three types of granulocytes are neutrophils,
eosinophils, and basophils.
The second subgroup of leukocytes are called mononuclear
leukocytes which includes both monocytes and lymphocytes.
Monocytes ingest dead or damaged cells (through phagocytosis) and
provide immunological defenses against many infectious organisms.
Monocytes migrate into tissues and develop into macrophages.
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Macrophages contain granules or packets of chemicals and enzymes
which serve the purpose of ingesting and destroying microbes,
antigens, and other foreign substances.
Lymphocytes are mononuclear leukocytes which identify foreign
substances and germs (bacteria or viruses) in the body and produce
antibodies and cells that specifically target them. It takes from
several days to weeks for lymphocytes to recognize and attack a new
foreign substance. The main lymphocyte sub-types are B-Cells, TCells,
and NK (Natural Killer) Cells.
Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Respiration
The cycle of creating energy is called the Krebs Cycle and takes
place in the mitochondria. Cells typically create energy via a process
known as aerobic (i.e. “with oxygen”) respiration. However, if
something happens which either inhibits the bloods ability to
transport oxygen, lowers the amount of oxygen in the blood,
decreases our carbon dioxide, prohibits the cells from absorbing the
oxygen in the blood, or damages the mitochondria’s ability to
produce ATP, then the Krebs cycle has been disrupted, the cells
have no energy, and we have a serious problem.
Since there is not enough oxygen for the cell to breathe, it changes
to anaerobic (i.e. “without oxygen”) respiration to survive.
According to Dr. David Gregg, “Cancer does not cause cells to turn
anaerobic, but rather it is stabilized anaerobic respiration that is the
single cause (or essential requirement) that turns the normal cells
that depend on aerobic respiration into cancer cells.”
www.krysalis.net
The cell stops breathing oxygen and starts fermenting glucose
(sugar) to make energy. When the cell starts fermenting glucose, the
outside of the cell wall becomes coated with a dense layer of protein,
which further inhibits oxygen from getting into the cell. The protein
coating also inhibits leukocytes (white blood cells) from doing their
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“job,” namely attacking and destroying invaders, including cancer
cells.
Anaerobic respiration is extremely inefficient and a severe drain on
the body, since anaerobic cells must work much harder than aerobic
cells to produce ATP from the glucose they metabolize. As a matter
of fact, aerobic respiration creates as many as 36 ATP molecules
from each glucose molecule, while anaerobic respiration creates only
2 ATP molecules. Thus, anaerobic respiration releases only 1/18 of
the available energy. So, when we do “the math,” we calculate that
in order for a cancer cell to obtain the same energy as a normal cell
it must metabolize at least 18 times more glucose. Now do you see
why we hear the phrase “cancer loves sugar”?
As I’ve already mentioned, healthy cells metabolize oxygen and
glucose to produce ATP while releasing carbon dioxide. Carbon
dioxide, in turn, is responsible for releasing oxygen from
hemoglobin, which are the red blood cells that transport oxygen
from the lungs to cells. However, cancer cells cannot extract the
oxygen from hemoglobin since their anaerobic respiration does not
produce carbon dioxide which is required to get the oxygen out of
the hemoglobin. Therefore, once a cell turns cancerous, it will
stabilize itself by impeding the oxygen delivery mechanism.
Now, different cells have different “life spans.” God created our
neurons (nerve cells) to last our entire life, but He made our
leukocytes to last only a couple of days. Similar to people, when cells
get hurt or sick, they can die prematurely, and damaged and dead
cells are constantly being replaced to insure proper tissue function.
This sort of cell replacement occurs constantly through a process
known as mitosis, which is basically cell division where one cell
divides into 2 smaller “daughter” cells. The new cells are structurally
and functionally similar to each other. I say similar because the two
daughter cells receive about half rather than exactly half of their
parent cell’s organelles. Much more important, however, is that each
daughter cell inherits an exact replica of the DNA (heredity
information) of the parent cell.
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However, even though there is always a considerable amount of
mitosis occurring, there is no real change in the total number of cells
in our bodies. How does this happen? Well, in accounting “lingo,”
your body has to “balance its books.” Simply put, in order for the
body to stay balanced, for every new cell that is generated via
mitosis, another cell must die. Programmed cell death is a process
referred to as apoptosis. Amazingly, every year the average human
loses half of his/her body weight in cells via apoptosis!
Deregulation of apoptosis is associated with several diseases,
including cancer and AIDS. In the case of cancer, inhibition of the
normal process of apoptosis can lead to the development of tumors,
since cells that would normally have died live indefinitely.
Typically, with cancer, there is a problem with the p53 gene which
regulates apoptosis. Tumors have been shown to become “self
sustaining” by creating their own blood supply. However, the
circulatory system in a tumor is not as sophisticated or efficient as
our normal circulatory system.
A cancer cell is described as being “undifferentiated.” What this
means is that a cancer cell has no useful function. As a result, a
cancer cell cannot become part of the tumor tissue itself, since
tumor tissue must be composed entirely of healthy cells. The cancer
cells just sit inside the tumor tissue, doing nothing except
multiplying and refusing to die. However, what kills cancer patients
is the spreading of their cancer cells. This is exactly why biopsies
are so dangerous! Cutting the tissue can release the cancer cells into
the bloodstream, thus enabling them to travel throughout the body!
When the cancer spreads throughout the body, eventually there are
enough cancer cells to kill a person.
Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels are formed.
This is a normal, essential process for biological development.
However, angiogenesis is also required for cancerous tumors to
grow. The primary initiating event for angiogenesis is a lack of
oxygen. “Cells deprived of oxygen emit angiogenic signals.” (The
Townsend Letter, June, 2002, pg. 97). According to Dr. David Gregg,
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“the complex process of new blood vessel formation follows from
there. In a way this makes sense in that one would expect a normal
cell to respond in such a manner, not just tumor cells. In fact, that
might be happening. Normal cells in the oxygen deficient
environment of the anaerobic tumor cells may be creating the new
blood vessels, not the cancer cells.”
Dr. Gregg continues, “I have always wondered why all cancers are
anaerobic in metabolism. It is almost like it is a requirement. I think
I now understand the answer. It is well known that in order for
tumors to grow they must form new blood vessels to supply the
increased tumor size. If they can’t do this they can’t grow. This is a
fundamental requirement for all cancers. If the angiogenesis
theory…is correct, they have to create an oxygen deficient
environment to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels. The
anaerobic metabolism accomplishes this. Thus, anaerobic
metabolism is not just a secondary consequence of cancer, it is a
requirement for cancer to grow. Cells that are not anaerobic have no
means of stimulating the formation of new blood vessels and thus
cannot support tumor growth. Lacking this ability they would
eventually die off.” www.krysalis.net/cancer4.htm
One scientist who contributed much to cancer research was P.G.
Seeger, who published almost 300 scientific works and was twice
nominated for the Nobel Prize. In the 1930s, he showed that cancer
starts in the cytoplasm of the cell, not in the nucleus. The cytoplasm
is the gel-like fluid inside the cell, and it provides a platform upon
which other organelles can operate within the cell. All of the
functions for cell expansion, growth, and replication are carried out
in the cytoplasm of a cell. The cytoplasm contains the mitochondria,
which are sometimes described as “cellular power plants,” because
they produce ATP through a series of steps which he called the
“respiratory chain.”
Seeger showed that in cancer cells, the respiratory chain was
blocked by the destruction of important enzymes, thus the cell can
only produce energy anaerobically by converting glucose into lactic
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acid. In 1957, Seeger successfully changed normal cells into cancer
cells within a few days by introducing chemicals that blocked the
respiratory chain. Perhaps his most important discovery: certain
nutrients have the ability to restore cellular respiration in cancer
cells, thus transforming them back into normal cells. In other words,
Seeger believed that cancer is reversible.
A key question, the answer to which is unknown, is whether a
cancer cell can sustain its anaerobic state without a microbe inside.
With the vast amounts of glucose being pulled into the cancer cell, it
is unlikely that a cell can sustain anaerobic respiration without a
microbe inside. This would hold true due to the fact that DMSO can
kill the microbe inside the cell without actually killing the cancer
cell, thus causing the cell to revert to normal aerobic respiration and
eventually die off due to normal apoptosis. I will discuss DMSO in
more detail later in the book.
German born Dr. Otto Warburg, a cancer biochemist and the 1931
Nobel laureate in medicine, first discovered that cancer cells have a
fundamentally different energy respiration than healthy cells. He
discovered that cancer cells are anaerobic, thus whatever causes this
anaerobic respiration to occur is the cause of all cancers. He
believed that cancer occurs whenever any cell is denied 60% of its
oxygen requirements, and showed that cancer cells exhibit
anaerobic respiration. His thesis was that cancer is a fermentative
disease caused by cells which have mutated from aerobic respiration
to anaerobic respiration, resulting in glucose fermentation and
uncontrolled cellular growth. He theorized that tumors are nothing
more than walled-off toxic waste dumps inside the body caused by
fermenting sugar. According to Warburg, most, if not all
degenerative diseases, are a result of lack of oxygen at the cellular
level.
Some researchers claimed that Warburg’s theory was not valid after
they had measured a particularly slow growing cancer, and found no
fermentation at all. Dean Burn and Mark Woods, two researchers at
the National Cancer Institute, checked those results. Using more
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sophisticated equipment, they determined that the equipment these
researchers used to measure fermentation levels was not accurate
enough to detect fermentation at low levels. Using newer and more
accurate equipment, Burn and Woods showed that even in those
very slow growing cancer cells, fermentation was still taking place,
albeit at very low levels.
The pH Balance
“Indeed, the entire metabolic process depends on a balanced pH.”
(Dr. Robert Young, Sick & Tired, page 59)
After years and years of research, I have learned that most successful
alternative cancer treatments have two common denominators:
1. the acid/alkaline balance of our body
2. the amount of oxygen at the cellular level
So let’s take a quick look at these two concepts. Back in high school
chemistry, we learned about our acid/alkaline balance, also referred
to as the body’s pH (“potential Hydrogen” or “powers of Hydrogen”).
Our pH is measured on a scale from 0 to 14, with around 7 being
neutral (normal). The pH numbers below 7 are acidic (with 0 being
the most acidic) and the numbers above 7 are alkaline (with 14
being the most alkaline). Without going into all the details about
protons (“+” charge) and electrons (“-” charge), it’s important to note
that hydrogen is a proton and alkaline substances (also called
“bases”) are proton “acceptors” while acids are proton “donors.”
What does that mean to someone who isn’t a doctor? Let me
simplify it for you. Since bases have a higher pH, they have a greater
potential to absorb hydrogen ions. And vise versa for acids.
Why is hydrogen so important? Our universe is composed of
millions of compounds, all derived from just 106 atoms. Of these
elements, hydrogen is the first and most fundamental. Hydrogen is
also the most abundant element, comprising 90% of all atoms in the
cosmos. In our sun and stars, hydrogen nuclei fuse to produce
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helium, the second element. This generates the enormous energy
that powers life on earth. And just as hydrogen fuels the sun, so, in
the human body, it is the crucial factor in the electrochemical
process that produces ATP, as we just discussed.
In chemistry, we know that water (H2O) decomposes into hydrogen
ions (H+) and hydroxyl ions (OH-). When a solution contains more
hydrogen ions than hydroxyl ions, then it is said to be acid. When it
contains more hydroxyl ions than hydrogen ions, then it is said to be
alkaline. As you may have guessed, a pH of 7 is neutral because it
contains equal amounts of hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions. When
oxygen enters an acid solution it can combine with H+ ions to form
water. Thus oxygen helps to neutralize the acid. When this takes
place inside our bodies, the acid uses up the neutralizing oxygen
thus preventing it from reaching the tissues that need it. As a result,
acidic tissues are devoid of free oxygen. An alkaline solution is just
the reverse. Two hydroxyl ions can combine to produce one water
molecule and one oxygen atom. In other words, an alkaline solution
can provide free oxygen to the tissues.
Over 70% of our bodies are water. When cells create energy via
aerobic respiration, they burn oxygen and glucose. I don’t want to
get overly “scientific” here, but the fact is that in order to create
energy, the body also requires massive amounts of hydrogen. As a
matter of fact, each day your body uses about ½ pound of pure
hydrogen. Even our DNA is held together by hydrogen bonds. And
since the pH of bases is higher, they have a greater potential to
absorb hydrogen, which results in more oxygen delivered to the
cells.
The hydrogen ion concentration was found to vary over fourteen
powers of 10, thus a change of one pH unit changes the hydrogen
ion concentration by a factor of 10. The pH scale is a “common”
logarithmic scale. For those of you who never liked math, what this
means is that a substance which has a pH of 5.2 is 10 times more
acidic than a substance with a pH of 6.2, while it is 100 (102) times
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more acidic than a substance with a pH of 7.2, and it is 1,000 (103)
times more acidic than a substance with a pH of 8.2, etc…
Our blood must always remain around 7.3 to 7.4 so that it can
continue to transport oxygen. Thus, God has made our bodies
resilient with the ability to self-correct in the event of an
imbalanced pH level through a mechanism called the buffer system.
In chemistry, a buffer is a substance which neutralizes acids, thus
keeping the pH of a solution relatively constant despite the addition
of considerable amounts of acids or bases. However, due to our poor
diet of junk foods, fast foods, processed foods, and sodas, most of us
are putting our bodies through “the ringer” in order to maintain the
proper pH in our blood. Although our bodies typically maintain
alkaline reserves which are utilized to buffer acids in these types of
situations, it is safe to say that many of us have depleted our
reserves.
When our buffering system reaches overload and we are depleted of
reserves, the excess acids are dumped into the tissues. As more and
more acid is accumulated, our tissues begin to deteriorate. The acid
wastes begin to oxidize (“rust”) the veins and arteries and destroy
cell walls and even entire organs. According to Dr. Robert Young,
“A chronically over-acidic body pH corrodes body tissue, slowly
eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like acid eating
into marble. If left unchecked, it will interrupt all cellular activities
and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neural firing of
your brain. Over-acidification interferes with life itself, leading to all
sickness and disease.” (Sick & Tired, page 59)
As we learned earlier, normal cells create energy via aerobic (with
oxygen) respiration. Alkaline cells are able to absorb sufficient
quantities of oxygen to support aerobic respiration. However, when
cells become more acidic, less oxygen is absorbed, and the cells
begin to ferment glucose in order to survive. This concept is
essential to understand, because cancer cells thrive in an acidic,
anaerobic environment and cannot live in an aerobic, alkaline
environment. Having an acidic pH is like driving your car with the
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“check engine” light on. It’s a sign that something is wrong with the
engine, and if we don’t get it fixed, then eventually the car will
break down.
According to Keiichi Morishita in his book, Hidden Truth of Cancer,
as blood starts to become acidic, the body deposits acidic substances
in cells to get them out of the blood. This allows the blood to remain
slightly alkaline. However, it causes the cells to become acidic and
toxic. Over time, he theorizes, many of these cells increase in
acidity and some die. However, some of these acidified cells may
adapt in that environment. In other words, instead of dying (as
normal cells do in an acid environment) some cells survive by
becoming abnormal cells. These abnormal cells are called malignant
cells, and they do not correspond with brain function nor with our
own DNA memory code. Therefore, malignant cells grow
indefinitely and without order. This is cancer.
Putting too much acid in your body is like putting poison in you fish
tank. About two years ago, we purchased a fish tank for Brianna and
Bryce. They each got to choose one goldfish – they were so excited
– their first pets. After killing 2 goldfish, we quickly learned that
the key factor in keeping fish alive is the condition of the water. If
their water isn’t just right, then they quickly die. We also learned
that you can kill a fish rather quickly if you feed it the wrong foods!
Now, compare this to the condition of our internal “fish tank.” Many
of us are filling our “fish tanks” with chemicals, toxins, and the
wrong foods which lower our pH balance, and an acidic pH results
in oxygen deprivation at the cellular level. As I have already
mentioned, this is the beginning of degenerative disease.
Since we are beginning to understand what internal conditions
make cancer cells thrive (an acidic pH and low oxygen
environment), then it stands to reason that the opposite conditions
(an alkaline pH and oxygen) should make cancer cells revert to
being inert, or harmless. So, one way to make our pH more alkaline
is to stop consuming things that make our bodies more acidic. A soda
pop has a pH around 2.0, thus it is 100,000 (105) times more acidic
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than water with a pH of around 7. People that consume huge
amounts of sodas (as well as coffee and alcohol) are typically very
acidic and are “cancer magnets.”
So, what other things can we do to keep our tissue pH in the proper
range? The easiest thing is to eat mostly alkaline foods. One of our
favorite cookbooks is called Back to the House of Health by Shelly
and Robert Young. The general “rule of thumb” is to eat 20% acid
foods and 80% alkaline foods. Fresh fruit juice also supplies your
body with a plethora of alkaline substances. You can also take
supplements, such as potassium, cesium, magnesium, calcium, and
rubidium, which are all highly alkaline.
Some excellent alkaline-forming foods are as follows: most raw
vegetables and fruits, figs, lima beans, olive oil, honey, molasses,
apple cider vinegar, miso, tempeh, raw milk, raw cheese, stevia,
green tea, most herbs, sprouted grains, sprouts, wheatgrass, and
barley grass. Foods such as yogurt, kefir, and butter are basically
neutral. Several acid-forming foods are as follows: sodas, coffee,
alcohol, chocolate, tobacco, aspartame, meats, oysters, fish, eggs,
chicken, pasteurized milk, processed grains, sugar, peanut butter,
beans, and pastas.