Most cancer treatments today aim to kill cancer cells. Doctors use powerful tools like chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy to destroy tumors.
But a new idea is gaining attention. What if, instead of trying to destroy cancer, we could help it heal?
This new approach is led by Professor Indraneel Mittra at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer in Mumbai, India. His team believes that cancer might behave like a wound that never heals. Instead of always attacking it, they suggest trying to calm it down and guide it into a less harmful, more stable state.
In a recent study published in BJC Reports, Professor Mittra and his team tested this idea on patients with glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and deadly brain cancers. Even with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, most glioblastoma patients live only about 15 months.
The researchers asked 10 glioblastoma patients to take a tablet containing small amounts of two natural compounds, resveratrol and copper.
These are known as nutraceuticals. The patients took the tablet four times a day for about 11 days before their planned brain surgery. Another group of 10 patients who did not take the tablets served as a control group.
During surgery, the researchers collected tumor samples and examined them in detail. What they found was surprising. The tumors from the treated group showed clear signs of healing and less aggressive behavior.
One key finding was that the treated tumors had lower levels of a protein called Ki-67, which shows how fast cancer cells are dividing. The treated group had nearly 33% less Ki-67.
There were also fewer cancer markers overall, and lower levels of immune checkpoint proteins that usually help tumors hide from the immune system. Even markers linked to cancer stem cells were much lower in the treated group. Importantly, none of the patients reported any side effects from the tablets.
Professor Mittra believes the secret lies in something called cell-free chromatin particles (cfChPs). These are bits of DNA released from dying cancer cells. When they enter the surrounding area, they can make surviving cancer cells more aggressive. But resveratrol and copper together seem to destroy cfChPs before they can do harm.
The team found that untreated tumors were full of cfChPs, but treated tumors had almost none. This suggests that the cancer cells were dying in a cleaner way, through a process called apoptosis, which doesn’t release cfChPs.
This natural tablet combination also lowered the activity of immune checkpoints. These proteins can prevent the immune system from fighting cancer.
Modern drugs that block immune checkpoints have been life-saving for some patients, but they are very expensive and often cause side effects. The resveratrol-copper tablets seem to do something similar, but in a gentler, cheaper way.
While the study only involved a small number of patients, the changes in the tumors were dramatic. Professor Mittra believes this could mark the beginning of a new way to treat cancer—by encouraging it to heal, rather than trying to destroy it completely.
“We’ve been trying to kill cancer for thousands of years,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to try a different approach. Instead of war, let’s try peace.”
Larger studies are still needed, but the results suggest a low-cost, non-toxic method that could help turn aggressive cancers into manageable or even harmless conditions. If proven in future research, this approach could change cancer treatment forever.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that a low-carb diet could increase overall cancer risk, and vitamin D supplements could strongly reduce cancer death.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer and results showing higher intake of dairy foods linked to higher prostate cancer risk.
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