Abstract
Despite advances in chemo/radiation therapy for cancer treatment, the number of cancer deaths continues to increase, and acute and late adverse effects that include neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases continue to occur. Therefore, a new approach for improving the current chemo/radiation therapy is needed. In 2014, a new technology that can deliver radiation dose to tumor at an ultra-dose rate referred to as FLASH radiation therapy was developed. It delivers a radiation dose to a tumor at a dose rate of 40 Gy/sec, compared with a dose rate of 0.01 Gy/sec for conventional radiation therapy. This therapy protected normal tissue against acute radiation injury, but the tumor response rate was like that of conventional radiation therapy. Therefore, another novel approach is needed to improve the survival rate of patients with cancer and to reduce the acute and late adverse effects of treatment. Although several studies showed that high doses of individual antioxidants kill cancer cells without significantly affecting the survival of normal cells, these findings did not draw attention from oncologists. While searching for mechanisms, we found that all cancer cells require glucose and glutamine for their survival and growth, and that high doses of some antioxidants block glucose uptake, whereas others block glutamine uptake. This led us to develop a formulation containing high doses of multiple antioxidants, for which a US patent was granted. In the absence of availability of the patented antioxidant formulation, an interim cancer treatment protocol was developed. It consists of three times the normal dose of a commercially available multivitamin, administered after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since intestinal dysbiosis reduces the effectiveness of chemo/radiation therapy, probiotics with prebiotics was also included in the protocol. Contents of protocol should be administered 7 days before chemo/radiation therapy and continues during therapy and for 30 days afterward. The doses of antioxidants are then gradually decreased to normal levels. The results for two patients who used this protocol are reported here.