Radio sensitizers and Microbiome

[pj1121]

I'm about to start a slightly novel radiotherapy - we will add in distant retroperitoneal nodes. 28 treatments = 70gy. I have a two part question:

1. Has anyone an opinion or experience with using supplements as radiosensitizers. Google "radiosensitizers and prostate cancer - NIH". Lots of studies and trials underway saying Curcumin, Soy and resveratrol act as radiosensitizers and protect healthy tissue during radiotherapy. (ex: mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/18/10...

2. I completely changed my diet no red meat, cured meat, dairy or sugar, lots of fruit and vegees. The result has been a wierd gut (no yogurt). In my search for a good probiotic supplement I ran across this and many others: Akkermansia muciniphila "Gut bacteria may play a role in prostate cancer therapies" news-medical.net/news/20200...

[Hidden]

I used the Walgreens 20 billion probiotic.

Daily Psyllium powder.

Peel all your vegetables and fruits. Peels cause havoc on the colon. Best if they are cooked.

[Brad70]

I took resveratrol: longevinex.com/longevinex/

Probiotic: askthescientists.com/qa/usa...

And some others: pyrroloquinoline quinone; ubiquinol; calcium alpha-ketoglutarate; IP6 + Inositol

[JohnInTheMiddle]

Apparently fasting works as a chemo sensitizer - maybe via the same process it might work as a radio sensitizer?

[Tall_Allen]

1. Be careful:

prostatecancer.news/2019/04...

2. Are the microbiome changes pathological, or are they a biomarker that therapy is working? No one knows yet.

3. Exercise!

[JohnInTheMiddle in reply to Tall_Allen]

Great article TA, esp. on curcumin. Now I remember why I don't take curcumin! Your article mentions in passing green tea. I drink coffee and green tea every day. From my reading on green tea it seems that it could be beneficial and I didn't see any downside concerns like some of the more exotic supplements people like to hype. May I ask please if you have any thoughts on green tea for someone with high-volume metastatic PCa? Thanks.

[Tall_Allen in reply to JohnInTheMiddle]

I think that normal food and drink, like curry or green tea, are just fine. It is only when one overloads oneself with supplements that problems can arise.

[PCaWarrior in reply to Tall_Allen]

Exactly. Does Zytiga increase some gut bugs? Then a short-sighted researcher claims that the gut bugs were there first and caused better PCa outcomes.

The lead researcher was quoted:

"While it's long been a mystery why abiraterone acetate is so effective, our team wondered if the gut microbiome plays a role."

Really?

[FRTHBST]

If you feel your gut bacteria are out of sorts, certain fibers such as acaia and guar(sunfiber) really helped me. I had a complete wipeout of gut bacteria after 3 weeks of antibiotics(in the middle of immunotherapy) to deal with UTI. Almost like instant colitus. All of the gastroenterological tests came up negative. Finally left to my own devices, these fibers daily with several sessions of acupuncture made a huge difference.

[dude69]

Hi, first off my diagnosis acinar adenocarcinoma with Gleason 4+5=9. PSA as high as 3.7 and it is otherwise a T2 tumor radiologically. I am from the US but have been living in Sweden for 28 years and we have socialized medicine. Treatment has been good and timely. Tumor found during a colonscopy check on the way out nearly a year ago and the cancer journey started. Biopsy was in Feb and diagnosis March. Had a choice between radiation and prostatectomy. Talked to onchologist and surgeon. Both said outcome likely the same with my cancer. So i chose the less evasive radiation. No symptoms really and PSA nearly normal. Luck? PET CT result was no spread and local. In any case, had one shot of pamorelin in May then started on bicalutamid but stopped at doctors orders due to bad liver blood test results. Starting again today bicalutamid. My radiation treatment plan combination of external radiotherapy 50 Gy/25 fractions against the prostate gland and against vesicles bilaterally combined with a brachytherapy treatment of 14.5 Gy. I finished the 25 visits of EBRT on prostate where I had markers place last week. Earlier this week had the final treatment HDR Brachytherapy. Was intubated and was about a 4 hour procedure that went well. Was cathed monday, had it removed tuesday this week then walked home and after went on a 5k walk. Yesterday 10k jog. To answer the initial question during EBRT I took a fiber supplement to help the bowel movements which were fine. No real side effects. Not as much endurance but still running 10k a day which I cant complain about. Stopped taking supplements a few weeks back. Have been taking for years Omega 3, Vitamin D, then Moringa but docs over hear said they could have a counter effect so I stopped taking them. Any comments on supplements during treatment? Sorry for the long response but it needs to be put into context.

[dude69 in reply to dude69]

by the way in sweden the fiber supplement I used was: Vi-Siblin/Bactrim Forte