Natural Checkpoint Inhibitors?

[sammamish]

Any decent research out there on "natural" checkpoint inhibitors? I am guessing they exist. Perhaps IP-6 or Curcumin is a "checkpoint " inhibitor? Also wondering if there is I any respectable research on 4-MU which apparently is used quite a bit in Europe. I am also curious about BCG vaccine. My father, who was an old school alternative medicine M.D. doc from the 70s(there were probably about 10 in the country at the time ) used if frequently for various cancer patients. It seems it may be a decent adjunct therapy, but info is sparse.

[Tall_Allen]

Is BCG used for anything other than bladder cancer? I think it is very specific. I doubt there are natural checkpoint inhibitors - they are manufactured as monoclonal antibodies.

[sammamish in reply to Tall_Allen]

Hi Tall, I came across this which seems to suggest small molecules like sulfa drugs can also be checkpoint inhibitors. Could be a repurposing drug for small dollar? ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

A group from Harvard University has discovered sulphonamide derivatives (1) and (2) to work in a similar fashion as reference mAbs.7 (Fig.1). The two compounds are active antagonists in an IFNγ-release assay in transgenic mouse T cells that express PD-1.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc. Object name is nihms828470f1.jpg

Fig. 1

Small-molecule antagonists of the PD-1 pathway.

[Tall_Allen in reply to sammamish]

Who knows if they have any activity in humans in prostate cancer? So far. checkpoint inhibitors have been disappointing in clinical trials, except in small subgroups.

[sammamish in reply to Tall_Allen]

Hi Tall stumbled across this from ''70-80 era just now.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

In a surprising Phase 2 and subsequent Phase 3 clinical trial, Guinan et al. 71 reported remarkable success with what we would now consider is suboptimal BCG immunotherapy. Using percutaneous BCG to the deltoid every 4 months in 28 patients with advanced prostate cancer, BCG immunotherapy improved antibody and delayed type cutaneous hypersensitivity responses, resulting in an 8 month prolongation in survival when compared with historical controls. In a subsequent randomised controlled trial of 33 patients with advanced prostate cancer treated with hormonal therapy, survival was increased from a mean of 5.6 months in controls to 8.1 months with BCG immunotherapy 72. This modest increase in survival might be maximized if BCG immunotherapy was improved and tumour burden minimised. While sample sizes are small, the published experience with BCG immunotherapy in prostate cancer compare quite favourably with the more complex, expensive and successful Sipuleucel‐T immunotherapy for advanced prostate cancer.

[Tall_Allen in reply to sammamish]

BCG is standard of care for early bladder cancer, and has been for a long time. It doesn't have any relevance for prostate cancer.

[sammamish in reply to Tall_Allen]

Tall did you read the citation?

Granted not an NIH megastudy but peer reviewed nonetheless

Provenge got approval on a 4 month OS and its a 100g

BCG is like what 50 bucks?

[Tall_Allen in reply to sammamish]

Yes, I read it and I know people who have been treated with it for BLADDER cancer. It has been standard of care for BLADDER cancer for many years. It has no use for PROSTATE cancer. They are different cancers genomically and the immune system reacts VERY differently to each one. For example, Ipi, a CTLA4 checkpoint inhibitor, works great against melanoma but has been found to be useless for prostate cancer. This seems obvious to me - but perhaps I am missing your point?

[sammamish in reply to Tall_Allen]

My only point is that the phase 2 and 3 showed measurable success in the reported 2 studies with advanced prostate cancer and BCG...that's all

[teamkv]

Those lucky mice again...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/258...

[Hidden in reply to teamkv]

Interesting.

antiaging-systems.com/artic...

Not advocating use, but did research availability and cost:

theantiaging.store/home/568...

[Currumpaw]

Well! The BCG vaccine as a cancer treatment. Yes indeed. An older friend had bladder cancer in the 80's. He was successfully treated with the BCG vaccine. He was instructed by his urologist to empty his bladder as much as possible. Then, while laying on his back his urologist would insert a catheter and push a solution containing the BCG vaccine into his bladder. He was told to lay there and hold it in as long as possible. His bladder cancer was cured and he lived many more years.

One of the members here wrote about his success in lowering his PSA by taking large amounts of IP6 & Inositol on an empty stomach. My herbalist recommends it.

Curcumin, curcumin and more curcumin. It is hard to absorb. Black pepper or bio-piperine can help as well as bromelain. Curcumin is being studied as a cancer treatment. You can Google it, Bing it whatever.

You didn't mention mushrooms but I read that for years the Japanese have been prescribing, note that the word "prescribing" Turkey Tail aka Trametes Versicolor and Coriolus Versicolor, I think the Japanese refer to it as PSK as an adjunct to cancer treatments. Good for among other things, prostate cancer! I take Host Defense Turkey Tail and My Community to balance things out. A link below:

A Guide to Integrative Oncology for Clinicians

depts.washington.edu/integonc/clinicians/act/mushroom_extracts.shtm

[CalBear74]

Using this as the definition guiding my response: "Checkpoint inhibitor therapy is a form of cancer treatment immunotherapy currently under research. The therapy uses immune checkpoints which affect immune system functioning. Immune checkpoints can be stimulatory or inhibitory."

You are right: IP6/phytates/phytic acid have been studied for its inhibition of cancer cells. For the serious student:

medicinabiomolecular.com.br...

Of course beta glucan is a natural immunomodulator that has succeeded in inhibiting tumor growth. See the 3rd edition of Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka's, "Beta Glucan: Nature's Secret". Keep in mind that using Transfer Point's Beta 1,3-D Glucan (#300) is critical, but you do need to exploit the demonstrated synergies with resveratrol and vitamin C.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl.... Solaray has a time release C and Nature's Answer resveratrol adds some polyphenols and C which can only help.

As for curcumin, the research is positive. Apparently, adding some green tea extract will up the horsepower (my language).

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

I currently use all of the above and am biased.

[kaptank]

Niacinamide is apparently a PARP inhibitor available over the counter, but it is weak compared to the latest big pharma. I tried it for a while, but no significant response. I was doing BAT at the time. There are some indications that PARP and checkpoint inhibiters may synergise with BAT as they restrict repair to double strand DNA breaks which BAT promotes.