Cancer starts in the mitochondria, & fixing them might treat it - a groundbreaking study shows it more clearly than ever.
(π§΅1/8)
The metabolic origins of cancer have been known for about a century.
Nobel prize winner Otto Warburg noted that cancer cells had inefficient metabolism - they turned glucose into lactic acid preferentially, instead of into CO2.
Why this helps cancer grow has been revealed more recently.
(2/8)
When mitochondria are not working properly, it is a breeding ground for cancer.
β More reactive oxygen species produced
β Greater acidification
β More oncometabolites
β Aberrant epigenetic signaling
β Worsened immune function
β Impaired cell death
β Improper cycle regulation
+ more.
This recent study showed that restoring mitochondrial health is a viable treatment for cancer.
They did this by transplanting mitochondria from healthy cells into cancer cells.
(3/8)
When lung cancer cells received the healthy mitochondria, they became more sensitized to chemotherapy.
A higher concentration of healthy mitochondria cut the amount of chemo (cisplatin) needed to kill the cancer cells by around half.
(4/8)
Healthy mitochondria also shrank tumor growth in animals.
Greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the chemo.
(5/8)
Reversing the mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer cells also reversed the other hallmarks of cancer.
For instance, healthy mitochondria reduced HIF1Ξ±, a key mediator of cancer invasion.
It also reduced the "stemness" or the ability of cancer cells to turn into cancer stem cells.
(6/8)
With healthy mitochondria, cancer cells are able to kill themselves properly.
They could produce more ROS and were able to induce programmed cell death (TUNEL), processes that are impaired in cancer and lead to the cells' accumulation.
(7/8)
Another key component to solving cancer is proper immune functioning, since it is the immune system that actually clears out tumors.
While chemo (cisplatin) worsened anti-tumor immunity, the healthy mitochondria increased:
β CD4+ area - a marker of T helper cells
β CD8+ area - for cytotoxic T cells
β NKp46 - a marker for natural killer cells
all critical factors in immune cell clearance of cancer cells.
(8/8)
Cancer is a metabolic / mitochondrial disease in nature.
I've written here about all of the angles one would take to optimize mitochondrial function:
The first study investigating this topic was in 2003.
They took vegetarians in their mid 20s and gave them 5g of (or placebo) for 6 weeks, then no creatine for 6 weeks, and then switched groups for another 6 weeks.
The break was done to see if any benefit went away without creatine.
(2/7)
Subjects took two cognitive assessments.
Ravenβs Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) = nonverbal test of abstract reasoning & pattern spotting.
Wechsler Backward Digit Span (BDS) = working memory test (recall numbers in reverse).
Both tap core cognitive abilities that strongly predict IQ scores.
Bone broth can drastically lower inflammation in the gut, as shown by a recent study.
(π§΅1/7)
The broth in this study was prepared by:
β§ Bone source & prep β Bovine femur bones (100β130 g), cut crosswise, commercially obtained
β§ Cleaning β Washed 3Γ in distilled water at 50 Β°C for 15 min to remove meat/fat/blood
β§ Cooking setup β Slow cooker, bone-to-water ratio 1:4
β§ Acidified water β 20 mL white vinegar per 1 L distilled water, boiled before adding bones
β§ Cooking process β Simmered 8 h at 100Β°C, volume maintained with acidified water
β§ Post-cooking β Cooled 3 h at room temp, refrigerated 6 h at 4 Β°C
β§ Filtering β Bones and fat removed via funnel with cotton gauze
(2/7)
Bone broth preserved the structure of the gut.
The two pictures on the top are from the animals with gut inflammation without bone broth.
You can see how the intestines look like they got ripped apart. There's also more immune cells that have infiltrated the area (neutrophils).
The bone broth group on the bottom had nearly normal gut structure, and far less neutrophil infiltration.