Anti-Tumor Effects of
Direct Current (DC)
Application
articles:
Targeting a key enzyme in cell
growth: a novel therapy for cancer
Electric
Current Helps Wipe Out Liver Tumours
Alternative
cancer treatment with few side effects: The Electro Carcinoma Therapy
(ECT)
Electro Cancer Treatment (ECT)
Low-level direct current therapy on a preclinical mammary
carcinoma
|
Medical Hypotheses (1997) 49, pg 297-300
Targeting a key enzyme in cell growth: A novel therapy
for cancer
http://www.cancer-treatment.net/TheArticlePg1.htm
Abstract --- The enzyme ribonucleotide reductase
(RR) controls the synthesis of DNA precursors and thus plays a
pivotal role in cell growth. Since the free-radical-containing
active-site of this enzyme can be disabled by a lone electron,
low-level direct electric current should have an inhibitory effect
on RR and, thus, on uncontrolled cell proliferation. This hypothesis
is strongly supported by the results of several cancer
electrotherapy studies reported over the years.
Introduction
Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth.
For a cell to divide, it must replicate its DNA strand. The building
blocks of this strand are in short supply in a healthy, resting
cell. However, the building blocks of a related molecule RNA are
always in great abundance since RNA is needed for many cellular
functions. When a cell is ready to divide, an enzyme called
ribonucleotide reductase (RR) converts building blocks of RNA into
those of DNA. The enzyme RR is, thus, pivotal for cell growth. Not
surprisingly, the activity of this enzyme is tightly linked, much
more than that of any other enzyme, to neoplastic transformation and
progression (1).
A whole class of anti-cancer chemotherapeutic
drugs, hydroxy-urea being best known, is aimed at blocking the
enzyme RR (2). However, utility of such drugs is limited since
inhibition of the enzymic activity is only partial and undesirable
side-effects are many.
Hypothesis
A novel way of
arresting the activity of this pivotal enzyme in cell growth is
suggested by the fact that the active site of RR contains a stable
tyrosyl free radical which is essential for its activity (13). Such
free radicals can be neutralized/destroyed by free-floating
electrons -- easily available in the form of direct electric
current. Thus DC electrotherapy should result in inhibition of RR
and cessation of malignant cell proliferation. Low-level surface DC
electrotherapy would act selectively on cancerous growth since the
concentration of the target enzyme RR is exponentially higher in
cancerous cells, as compared to healthy quiescent cells (1).
Metastasized cancer should also be treatable by direct current
electrotherapy since even in the metastatic state, irrespective of
the organ micro-environment, the biochemical mechanism of cell
division involving the enzyme RR, remains the same.
Experimental evidence
The connection between
low-level DC electrotherapy and deactivation of enzyme RR is being
proposed for the first time. However, use of low-level direct
electric currents to treat tumor -- without any clear understanding
of the underlying mechanism -- has been reported in scientific
literature about ten times during the last four decades (4-13).
Three of these papers - the last one in 1985 - reported very
encouraging results. For example, in some experiments, there was
total regression in 60% of mice (4), an average of 88% tumor
necrosis [destruction] in hamsters (5), and 98% reduction in tumor
mass, also in hamsters (7). (It is strange that none of these
studies had any proper follow-ups.) The outcome of other studies was
less positive -- almost certainly due to poor choice of parameters.
Following is a summary of these ten reports. (The electrode
near the tumor is termed as 'active', the other one being called
'passive'.)
1. Humphrey et al, 1959 (4)
ACTIVE
Electrode: Copper or Zinc plate with saline-solution-saturated
sponge on unbroken skin over tumor.
PASSIVE Electrode: Same,
over ventral area.
BEST RESULTS (Total regression in 60% mice):
at cathode, with 3 milliamperes at 3 V, 4.8 hours per day for 21
days.
2. Schauble et al, 1977 (5)
ACTIVE Electrode:
Silicone covered steel needle - exposed tip implanted.
PASSIVE
Electrode: Wire-mesh with electrode paste and saline-dampened sponge
- over chest skin.
BEST RESULTS (88% Necrosis): at positive
electrode with 3 mA at 1.5 V, 1 hour per day for 4 days.
NOTE:
Necrosis was also observed when active electrode was made negative.
3. Habal 1980 (6)
Poor results with 0.5 ĉA at 1.5 V, for
12 days continuous, using an implanted device.
4. David et
al, 1985 (7)
ACTIVE Electrode: Silicone covered Steel or
Platinum-Iridium (70:30) needle - exposed tip implanted.
PASSIVE
Electrode: Aluminum foil plate with conducting paste - over shaved
underbelly.
BEST RESULTS (98% Reduction in tumor mass): at
either electrode, with 2.4 mA at less than 3 V, for 1 hour per day
for 5 days.
5. Marino and Morris et al, 1986 (8)
Both
Electrodes ACTIVE: Insulated Platinum - except for the implanted
tips - at foci of tumor.
BEST RESULTS (Total regression in 43%
of primary tumors): with 2 mA at about 3 V, 1 hour per day for 3
intermittent days.
6. Morris and Marino et al, 1992 (9)
Both Electrodes ACTIVE: Platinum needles - implanted in tumor.
BEST RESULTS (Reduction in tumor mass without improved
survival): with 20 mA at 8-10 V, for 15 minutes once.
7.
Miklavki et al, 1993 (10)
ACTIVE Electrode: Platinum-Iridium
(90:10), Gold, Silver or Titanium needle tip implanted.
PASSIVE
Electrode: Same, placed subcutaneously the whole length, near tumor.
BEST RESULTS (About 70% necrosis): at cathode, with 0.6 mA at
unspecified volts, for 1 hour once.
NOTE: "Field"
electrotherapy, by placing both electrodes subcutaneously for their
entire length, on either side of tumor, also produced similar
necrosis.
8. Griffin et al, 1994 (11)
ACTIVE Electrode:
Gold needle - implanted.
PASSIVE Electrode: Copper plate with
conducting gel - beneath the animal.
BEST RESULTS (Regression
proportional to charge passed): at anode, with 1-4 mA at 1-16 V, for
30-90 min. once.
9. Taylor et al, 1994 (12)
ACTIVE
Electrode: 4 parallel brass plates, vertically mounted, in a
specially designed oesophageal tube.
PASSIVE Electrode: Large
plate with saline-soaked pad on human patients back.
BEST
RESULTS (Oesophagus tumor of one patient regressed completely at the
primary site): with 20 mA at 7 V, at each of four anodes, for 1
hour. Three treatments over 4+1/2 month period.
10. Miklavki
et al, 1994 (13)
ACTIVE/PASSIVE Electrodes: Gold needles, placed
subcutaneously the whole length, on either side of tumor.
BEST
RESULTS (Tumor growth slowed by a factor of 3): with 1.0 mA at
unspecified volts, for 1 hour, applied once.
NOTE: No
correlation was observed between the amount of deposited electrode
material (gold) and anti-tumor effect.
Discussion and
conclusion
Both positive and negative results of the
published low-level electrotherapy studies can be adequately
explained by the posited enzyme-mediated mechanism. Various aspects
of these reports is being discussed in these sections:
Positioning & Polarity of Electrodes
If
deactivation of the enzyme RR is the dominant mechanism underlying
the efficacy of electrotherapy, then it should not matter whether
electrodes are implanted or on the surface -- as long as the tumor
is in the path of the current. Only in study #1 (4) were both
electrodes placed on unbroken skin, and it reported one of the
better results. Beside being non-invasive, surface electrodes also
minimize electrochemistry and its attendant toxicity. Similar
reasoning would suggest that the polarity of the electrodes is
inconsequential. Almost all electrotherapy studies where beneficial
results were obtained, confirm this. Results of "field"
electrotherapy experiments, where electrodes were implanted on
either side of tumor (10,13) also show that polarity of electrodes
is immaterial, and that electrode-electrolyte interactions are of
little significance.
Electrode Metal
Dissolution
If the primary mechanism of electrotherapy
involves inhibition of enzyme RR, then electrode metal deposition
should have little or no influence on the beneficial outcome. Study
10 (13) has clearly shown that this is so. The fact that different
electrode materials produce very similar results, further indicates
that electrodes act merely as electron conductors. Thus, virtually
all the observed facts are in accord with the proposed mechanism
involving the deactivation of the free-radical-containing active
site of RR. Furthermore, a recent experiment has shown that the
concentration of enzyme RR decreases and cell growth ceases when
direct electric current is passed through the tumor (15). The
proposed hypothesis, thus, is on the verge of being proved.
This
novel way of arresting cell growth can be the foundation of a cancer
therapy that is non-toxic, non-invasive, site-specific, low-cost and
easy to administer. The current cancer treatments are called "slash,
burn & poison" by oncologists themselves, and are mostly
empirical in nature. The gentle electrotherapy, on the other hand,
would be deductively scientific with potential to cure most cancers.
References
1. Weber, G. (1983) Biochemical
strategy of cancer cells and the design of chemotherapy. Cancer Res.
43, 3466-3492.
2. Cory, J.G., and Cory, A.H. (1989) Inhibition
of ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase activity. International
encyclopedia of pharmacology and therapeutics. New York: Pergamon
Press, pp 1-16.
3. Graslund, A., Ehrenberg, A., and Thelander,
L. (1982) Characterization of the free-radical of mammalian
ribonucleotide reductase. J. Biol. Chem. 257, 5711-5715.
4.
Humphrey, C.E., and Seal, E.H. (1959) Biophysical Approach Toward Tumor Regression in
Mice. Science 130, 388-390.
5. Schauble, Habal, and Gullick,
(1977) Inhibition of experimental tumor growth in hamsters by
small direct currents. Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 101, 294-297.
6. Habal, M.B. (1980) Effect of applied d.c. currents on experimental tumor
growth in rats. J. Biomed. Mat. Res. 14, 789-801.
7. David,
Absolom, Smith, Gams, and Herbert, (1985) Effect of low level direct current on in vivo tumor
growth in hamsters. Cancer Res. 45, 5625-5631.
8. Marino, A.A., Morris, D., and Arnold, T. (1986)
Electric treatment of lewis lung carcinoma in mice. J. Surg. Res.
41, 198-201.
9. Morris, D.M., Marino, A.A., and Gonzalez, E.
(1992) Electrochemical modification of tumor growth in mice. J.
Surg. Res. 53, 306-309.
10. Miklavki, D., Sersa, G.,
Kryzanowski, M., Novakovi, S., Bobanovi, Golouh, and Vodovnik,
(1993) Tumor treatment by direct electric current - tumor
temperature and pH, electrode matteriial and configuration.
Bioelectro. B. 30, 209-220.
11. Griffin, D.T., Dodd, N.J.F.,
Moore, J.V., Pullan, B.R., and Taylor, (1994) The effects of
low-level direct current therapy on a preclinical mammary carcinoma:
tumor regression and systemic biochemical sequelae. Br. J. Cancer
69, 875-878.
12. Taylor, T.V., Engler, P., Pullan, B.R., and
Holt, S. (1994) Ablation of neoplasia by direct current. Br. J.
Cancer 70, 342-345.
13. Miklavki, D., Fajgelj, A., and Sersa, G.
(1994) Tumor treatment by direct electric current: electrode
material deposition. Bioelectro. B. 35, 93-97.
14. Nordenstrom,
B.E.W. (1985) Electrochemical treatment of cancer. Ann. Radiol., 43,
84-87.
15. Yen, Y., and Chou, C.K., City of Hope Medical Center,
Duarte, CA., USA (personal communication).
BioElectric´s
Comments: The referenced studies were able to achieve 3mA of
electrical current with low voltage (~3v) because the electrodes
were directly opposite tumors on small mice. On larger animals and
humans it is certain that more voltage will be necessary to achieve
3mA current because more living tissue between electrodes presents
more resistance. The formula for determining current (I= V/R) shows
that with more resistance, more voltage is necessary to achieve the
same current. Therefore, our DC Electrifier uses 45 volts as the
source which may be necessary to achieve 3ma current. But it is
the current which does the work, not the voltage. The current can be
set to 5mA automatically, or in the "manual" setting the current can
be adjusted lower if necessary to be
comfortable. |
Electric Current
Helps Wipe Out Liver Tumours
by Nic Rowan
Thursday, November 08, 2001 2:06 p.m.
EST
- - - - -
ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters Health) -
Surgeons here who pioneered the use of electrical current to destroy
liver tumours say they are optimistic that the treatment could be
used for tumours of the pancreas and kidney as well. The treatment,
called electrolysis, involves placing electrodes into liver tumours
and surrounding tissue. A small electric current is then passed
through the electrodes to destroy the tissue. In some cases,
affected parts of the liver are removed surgically.
The leader
of the surgical team investigating the treatment, Professor Guy
Maddern of Adelaide University, told Reuters Health that the method
causes a change in the acidity of the tissue and "poisons the
tumour."
"It is less destructive than surgical removal of the
tumour, and can be used to treat tumours that are awkwardly located,
such as next to large blood vessels," he added. Maddern and his
colleagues have treated 10 patients, with follow-up ranging from 6
to 43 months. Nine of the patients had bowel cancer that had spread
to the liver, and one had cancer that originated in the liver.
In order to be included in the study, patients had to have no
other untreatable tumour outside the liver, and to be fit for major
surgery. All patients, said Maddern, had extensive disease in the
liver.
Eight of the patients show no evidence of residual tumour
at the treatment site. Five of these eight patients have developed
new areas of tumour spread, while three have no evidence of new
cancer growth.
"In any case, after surgical intervention without
electrolysis, 60% of patients would be expected to develop new
disease," Maddern said. "We are trying to increase the percent who
don't get new disease."
When added to surgery to remove a
tumour, Maddern noted, electrolysis increased the percentage of
patients who were treatable with surgery from 20% to 25%. "We have
been developing this technique for 5 years. We are now ready to move
forward and are considering tumours of the pancreas and kidney,"
Maddern told Reuters Health. "They will be the next
step." |
Alternative
cancer treatment with few side effects: The Electro Carcinoma
Therapy (ECT)
Original
article in German: http://www.naturmednet.de/krebs/tumor.ect.html
The
Electro-Carcinoma Therapy is a form of tumor treatment that is
hardly known. So far, some empirical values and a first study are
present. The Institute for Natural Health Methods in Marburg Germany
uses ECT.
The principle: A weak direct current is applied to
the tumors, which can shrink, as a direct consequence and even
disappear completely.
From China came the first results of a
larger case study which uses the ECT treatment with over 10,000
patients in the period of 1987 to 2000. One of the central results:
in just over 30% of the cases, it brought about the dissolution of
the tumors, and in somewhat more than 40%, to the reduction of the
tumor. The individual success values hang thereby, among other
things on the kind of tumor and size as well as the stage of the
illness.
The Chinese medical profession apply the energy in
particular by means of platinum wire electrodes, in the form of
needles, injected directly into the tumors. In contrast; the Marburg
Institute works almost exclusively with plate formed metal
electrodes applied to the skin. "the use of plates is gentler,
possesses a higher acceptance with the patients and is just as
effective as the therapy with needles", explains Dr. Bernhard Weber,
head of the institute. First intermediate results of the local
treatments seem to confirm the results of the Chinese
study.
The Electro-Carcinoma Therapy is a local, low
side-effect procedure that can be treated on an outpatient basis. In
the two to three hour treatment, energy flows through the tumor.
Some patients need only two or three sessions before the tumour will
"melt", others need more. With the help of a special computer
monitor program and controls, the physician controls the treatment
and observes the procedures in the body and the growth. The medical
skill lies in being able to place the electrodes in the correct
location and setting of the optimal amperage - this must be
different depending upon tumour size, density and type.
ECT
can and should be used, depending upon illness, together with other
forms of treatment. In order to control the formation of secondary
growths (metastases) with malicious tumors, Dr. Weber advises to
combine the use of ECT with radio and/or chemotherapy. ECT does not
replace good conventional therapy possibilities; on the other side
ECT can be a new therapeutic chance where conventionally difficult
or hardly treatable tumors and secondary growths are
present.
ECT is suitable for both surface as well as more
deeply located tumours, explains the Institute. Secondary growths in
bones cannot be treated as effectively with this method. Even if the
tumor has already been pre-treated with irradiation or chemotherapy,
the Electro Carcinoma Therapy can still be used.
Further
information:
Institut fr Naturheilverfahren &
Naturheilkunde-Tagesklinik mit Schmerzambulanz
(Institut for
natural health method & naturopathy outpatient hospital with
pain clinic)
Contact: Dr. Bernhard Weber, email:
b.weber@firemail.de
Uferstr. 1, 35037 Marburg, Germany
Tel:
+49 6421 68430; FAX: +49 6421 684350
Literature on
ECT:
Dr. med. Rudolf Pekar: Die perkutane Bio-Elektrotherapie
bei Tumouren (The percutaneous bio electrical therapy with tumours).
Vienna, Munich, Berlin 1996.
Dr. med. Rudolf Pekar/Dr. med.
Nikolai N. Korpan: Cancer. Vienna, Munich, Berne
2002.
|
Electro Cancer
Treatment (ECT)
Source: http://www.klinik-st-georg.de/englisch/ELEKTRO.HTM
I.
Introduction
Electro medicine has been widely used for many
years, especially in orthopedics where it has been used for
regeneration, i. e., to increase the healing process in broken bones
(1) and pain purposes. In Oncology, however, the use of
electromedicine (ECT) is relatively new and stems from research
investigations of Pekar (2) and Nordenstrm (3). Since 1987, St.
George Hospital has treated hundred of patients with this method of
treatment. Direct current can be directed into tumorous tissue (skin
metastases, lymph node metastases or isolated organ metastases)
through the application of electrodes. If the total amount of direct
current is high enough, this procedure results in the destruction of
cancerous cells and in extreme cases, no necrotization
[burning].
II. Physical-chemical principles of
ECT
As soon as direct current is connected to the electrodes,
different electrochemical reactions influence the pH-value and can
cause electrolysis of tumor tissue. Depolarization of the cell
membranes changes the cellular environment forcing the tumor cells
to be gently destroyed. Consequence of this process is the
interruption of certain functions within the cancerous cells, which
in turn, can lead to the destruction of these cells. Tumor tissue is
more susceptible to damage from direct current than normal tissue,
thus allowing the destruction of cancerous cells to occur when
direct current is applied directly to the malignant tissue. The body
's own catabolic processes remove the destroyed malignant tissue
from the body. It is also possible that through this process the
immune system starts fighting all other cancer cells within the
body. Once ECT or Galvano (as it is commonly known) treatment is
successfully completed, the cancerous area heals and is replaced
with scar tissue.
III. What types of tumor are suitable
for ECT?
ECT is suitable for all types of superficial or deep
seated tumors, which can be reached by needle electrodes.
Specifically, however, are:
- small breast carcinomas or isolated
axiillary, supraclavicular and thoracic nodes.
- all tumors of
the ENT area, especially after radiation or chemotherapy.
- skin
carcinomas e. g. Basaliome, Spinoccellllular carcinoma, Melanoma
etc.
- gynecological carcinomas
- soft tissue
tumors
IV. Special form of ECT using cytostatic substances
(Iontophoresis)
The destructive effect of the direct current
on tumorous tissue can be enhanced by the simultaneous
administration of cytostatic substances, for example, Mitomycin,
Adrimycin, Epirubicin and Cis-Platinium. Most cytostatic substances
are positively charged, which when inserted onto the anode in an
electrical field directed through tumorous tissue move to the
cathodes (iontophoresis movement). In this way, cytostatics can be
introduced into the tumorous tissue in a very targeted and
concentrated manner. This method can be more effective on the tumor
side than standard systemic chemotherapy or local cytostatic
perfusion. Cytostatic substances are best applied to hollow organs,
for example, esophagus, bladder, stomach and rectum. The membrane
potentials are changed so much by the current that the cells open
and absorb cytostatic substances more rapidly.
V. How is
the treatment carried out?
Normally the treatment is carried
out under local anaesthetic and on an outpatient basis. The size of
the tumor determines how many needle electrodes are required,
however, a minimum of 2 are always used. These are introduced into
the tumor through the skin. The electrodes should not be further
than 1.5cm apart. The minimum required electric field must be 35
coulombs/ml although up to 90 coulombs/ml are normally used. During
the treatment, the patient will experience a slight pressure pain or
a slight tingling in the treated area. Direct current brings about
long lasting pain relief because it inhibits the activity of sensory
nerve fibers. Therefore there is no pain after treatment. However
because the cancerous tissue is being destroyed through this method
of treatment, it is normal that inflammation occurs for a couple of
days afterwards. The cancerous tissue is broken down naturally,
which when eliminated from the body is replaced by scar tissue.
Superinfections rarely occur. ECT replaces operations and radiation
treatment. Judging by the very positive therapy results, it can be
assumed, that ECT will become an important form of treatment for
malignant diseases.
Literature
- Senn E. Electro
therapy, Thieme-Verlag
- Pekar R. Percutaneous galvano therapy of
tumors, Verlag W.Maudrich, Vienna-Munich-Bern
- Nordenstrom BEW
The European Journal of Surgery Suppl. 577, Pg 93-109 Scandinavian
University Press
- Douwes F. R. The basics of electrochemical
cancer treatment 1994
- Szasz. A. Advanced alternative medicine
AAAAM-Series
- Pleasnicar A. Electric treatment of human melanoma
skin lesions with low level direct current. The European Journal of
Surgery Suppl 574, Pg 45-49. Scandinavian University press.
-
Yunqin Song Electrochemical treatment in the treatment of malignant
tumors on the body surface. The European Journal of Surgery Suppl
574, Pg 41-43. Scandinavian University Press.
- Kuanhong Quan
Analysis of the clinical effectiveness of 144 cases of soft tissue
and superficial malignant tumors treated with electrochemical
therapy. The European Journal of Surgery Suppl 574, Pg 37-40.
Scandinavian University Press.
|
British Journal of
Cancer, #69, 1994, pp 875-878
The effects of
low-level direct current therapy on a preclinical mammary carcinoma:
tumour regression and systemic biochemical sequelae
from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1968917/
Direct current therapy (DCT) offers considerable
promise as a low-cost, minimally invasive anti-tumour treatment.
While the tissue-destructive effects of low, direct electrical
currents | |