liver cancer Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Study Reveals SHOCKING Link Between Forever Chemicals and Liver Cancer

AHA Publisher — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 07:00:36 +0000

News Staff via NaturalHealth365 – Your liver is a vital organ with hundreds of important functions. For instance, your liver works hard to cleanse your blood of poisons and toxins. Now, a recent study published in JHEP Reports shows a disturbing link between a synthetic “forever chemical” and deadly liver cancer. The report suggests that the higher the exposure to forever chemicals, the higher the chance of developing liver cancer. Man-Made Forever Chemicals Linked to Deadly Form of Liver Cancer Forever chemicals are synthetic chemicals commonly used in consumer and industrial products. There are many types of these chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Perfluooctane sulfate (PFOS) is just one type of PFAS. For the JHEP study, researchers analyzed human blood and tissue samples previously collected for an epidemiological study. Researchers looked at the samples of people who did or did not develop liver cancer. They evaluated samples taken before cancer diagnosis, comparing them to samples from those who didn’t develop cancer. Researchers found that study participants with high levels of PFOS in their blood were four and a half times as likely to develop liver cancer. The participants who developed cancer all had high levels of multiple types of PFAS in their blood. But the strongest link was between PFOS and liver cancer. Although other studies involving animals have suggested correlations between PFAS and cancer, this is the first human study to prove it. Here Is Why PFAS Are Bad News for Your Health Forever chemicals earned their nickname because they are extremely long-lasting. They take a long time to break down, accumulating in our environment and our bodily tissues over time. Unfortunately, the use of these dangerous chemicals is still widespread, although some manufacturers have stopped using them altogether amid growing health concerns. PFAS are present in drinking water, food, food packaging, and even cosmetics. This is bad news for your health. Besides being carcinogenic, PFAS are associated with liver damage, kidney disease, neurological damage, and autoimmune problems. And once these toxic chemicals get into your bloodstream, they’re there for the long haul. How Does PFOS Lead to Liver Cancer? Researchers speculate that forever chemicals impede natural liver function. For instance, PFOS may interfere with glucose metabolism, bile acid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. When the liver can’t function normally because of metabolic disruption, fat buildup can occur within the liver. This results in a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Those with NAFLD have a much higher risk of liver cancer. Shockingly, there has been a global uptick in the number of people diagnosed with NAFLD – with scientists estimating that a whopping 30% of the global population will have NAFLD by the year 2030. How to Minimize Intake of PFAS What can you do to keep your liver healthy and reduce your PFAS exposure? It may be hard to avoid PFAS altogether. But you may be able to minimize exposure by minimizing packaged and processed foods. Choose organic, whole, or locally grown foods whenever possible. This will ensure you’re avoiding as many harmful chemicals as possible and help you feel your best. Sources for this article include: Medical Press Johns Hopkins Medicine To read the original article click here.

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Discover a Shockingly Simple Intervention to Support Liver Health

AHA Publisher — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 07:28:54 +0000

Lori Alton via NaturalHealth365 – Rates of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) – excessive deposits of liver fat in those with no history of alcohol abuse – are soaring in the United States, with some experts placing the incidence at a stunning one in three adults. Although many cases of NAFLD are mild, the disease can occasionally progress to severe and even life-threatening consequences, including liver cancer. Now, exciting new research published in the peer-reviewed journal Molecular Metabolism suggests that a simple intervention – regular exercise – can significantly improve the condition and even play a role in preventing it. To learn more about the effects of this surprising natural strategy on NAFLD, read on. Skyrocketing Rates of Obesity Are Triggering a National Epidemic of NAFLD The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that a shocking 66 percent of American adults are currently either overweight or obese, which goes a long way towards explaining the increasing rates of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. As the name implies, the primary cause is not excessive alcohol – but consumption of too many toxic foods and a lack of physical activity. The excessive intake of high fructose corn syrup plus many other processed foods lead to fat deposits in the liver, which over time causes dysfunction of the mitochondria in liver cells. Experts estimate that in 20 to 30 percent of the cases, NAFLD progresses to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (or NASH), a more serious condition that can sometimes lead to liver fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, liver cancer and death. Study: Regular Exercise Mitigates NAFLD at the Molecular Level According to a new study conducted by scientists at Helmholtz Munich and Tubingen University Hospital, exercise causes molecular adaptations of mitochondria in the liver that can prevent the development of fatty liver disease. Over the course of the six-week study, mice were fed a high-calorie diet – and some received “treadmill training,” meaning that they had regular exercise. The team found that regular physical activity regulates the breakdown of glucose in the liver and improves the function of the mitochondria, also known as the “power stations” of the cell. The “exercised” mice also displayed improvements in glucose control. In addition, regular physical activity improved the respiratory capacity of the muscles, thereby relieving stress on the liver. Although the study was conducted on animals, it mirrors the research results on humans. “The results fit in very well with the approaches of ongoing clinical studies,” reported study leader Dr. Cora Weigert. Additional Studies Support the Ability of Regular Exercise to Improve Liver Health In a review published in 2018 in Gene Expression, the Journal of Liver Research, the authors summarized the evidence for the effects of regular physical exercise on NAFLD and NASH. They noted that several clinical trials have shown that both aerobic and resistance exercise reduce liver fat by several different pathways. These include improving insulin resistance – which reduces the excess delivery of fats and glucose to the liver – increasing fatty acid oxidation (in other words, fat burning) decreasing fatty acid synthesis and preventing mitochondrial and liver damage. In light of all this, it’s not at all surprising that the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American College of Gastroenterology all recommend physical exercise for NAFLD! What Type of Exercise Is Best for NAFLD? Studies suggest that a wide variety of exercise styles, intensities and duration can benefit NAFLD. The authors of the 2018 review cited a study of overweight and obese NAFLD patients that evaluated the effects of three different exercise regimes: low intensity/high volume, high-intensity/low volume and low intensity/low volume. Each was found to cause significant reductions in liver fat. In another study, NASH patients performed a moderate exercise program consisting of 20- to 60-minute sessions four to seven days a week. The program, which included both resistance and aerobic training, caused a significant improvement in NASH. Resistance training includes weight lifting, squats, lunges, and pushups. You can get aerobic exercise through jogging, cycling, dancing, swimming, and even brisk walking. However, researchers in several studies stressed that the most important factor was that the exercise routine fit the individual’s ability and preferences. By the way, the general recommendation of the National Institutes of Health is for adults to get 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. But, do check first with your integrative doctor before embarking on an exercise regimen to address NAFLD. While there is currently no consensus on which type of exercise is “best” for NAFLD, almost any kind of regularphysical activity can be beneficial. By showing exactly how regular exercise positively impacts fatty liver disease, the new study helps to showcase the exciting potential of this simple, drug-free, non-toxic natural intervention. If needed, get some coaching advice and get started today. Sources for this article include: ScienceDaily.com WJGnet.com NIH.gov Healthline.com NIH.gov AJMC.com Healthline.com To read the original article click here.

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Radio-Wave Therapy Is Safe for Liver Cancer Patients and Shows Improvement in Overall Survival

AHA Publisher — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 07:00:42 +0000

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center via EurekAlert – Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have shown that a targeted therapy using non-thermal radio waves is safe to use in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. The therapy also showed a benefit in overall survival. The study findings appear online in 4Open, a journal published by EDP Sciences. “HCC accounts for nearly 90% of all liver cancers, and current survival rates are between six and 20 months,” said Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., chair of cancer biology and director of Wake Forest Baptist’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Currently, there are limited treatment options for patients with this advanced liver cancer.” For the study researchers used a device called TheraBionic P1, invented by Pasche and Alexandre Barbault of TheraBionic GmbH in Ettlingen, Germany, that works by delivering cancer-specific, amplitude-modulated radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (AM RF EMF) programmed specifically for HCC. The frequencies used are specific to the patient’s type of cancer as identified through tumor biopsies or blood work, Pasche said. Pasche and Barbault discovered radio frequencies for 15 different types of cancer, as previously reported in a study published in 2009 in the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research. TheraBionic P1 is a hand-held device that emits radio frequencies via a spoon-shaped antenna, which is placed on the patient’s tongue during treatment and is administered three times a day for one hour to deliver low levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields throughout the patient’s body. In previous studies, the device, which received breakthrough designation from the FDA in 2019, was shown to block the growth of liver cancer cells in the body without damaging healthy cells. For the current study, 18 patients with advanced HCC participated and received treatment with the device. Researchers also analyzed previously published data on 41 patients from a phase II study and historical controls from earlier clinical trials. “Our findings show an improvement in overall survival of more than 30% in patients with well-preserved liver function and also in those with more severe disease,” Pasche said. Researchers also tracked side effects, and no patients stopped TheraBionic P1 treatment because of adverse reactions. “We’re encouraged by these initial findings,” Pasche said. “Our study shows a benefit in overall survival, and the treatment isn’t associated with any significant side effects.” Support for this study was provided by TheraBionic Inc. and funds from Wake Forest Baptist’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Pasche noted that the study does have several limitations because of the small sample size and “selection bias inherent in the use of historical control data.” However, two additional clinical trials are underway and are being led by William Blackstock, M.D., chair of radiation oncology at Wake Forest Baptist’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. One is a single-center study to assess the safety and effectiveness of the TheraBionic device in combination with Regorafenib, a chemotherapy drug, as a second-line treatment. Another multicenter, double-blind, randomized study comparing TheraBionic with placebo will assess the safety and effectiveness of the device as a third-line therapy in the treatment of advanced HCC. To read the original article click here.

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New Treatment Extends Lives of People With Most Common Type of Liver Cancer

AHA Publisher — Thu, 14 May 2020 07:00:43 +0000

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences via Newswise – For the first time in over a decade, scientists have identified a first-line treatment that significantly improves survival for people with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer. Researchers found that the combination of atezolizumab, an immunotherapy drug that boosts the body’s natural defenses, and bevacizumab, an anti-angiogenesis drug that inhibits the growth of tumors’ blood vessels, improved overall survival and reduced the risk of death by 42%. It also decreased the risk of the disease worsening by 41%, and the percentage of patients whose cancer shrank or disappeared more than doubled. Results from the clinical trial were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the combination is currently being reviewed for approval under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Real-Time Oncology Reviewpilot program. “The therapy is a real game-changer for people diagnosed with this aggressive disease,” said the study’s principal investigator and lead author, Dr. Richard S. Finn, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the signal transduction and therapeutics program at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We now have a new therapy that not only improves survival for people with the disease, which is very challenging to treat, but that helps them live longer while maintaining a high quality of life.” Currently, people diagnosed with advanced liver cancer have limited treatment options, and the prognosis for survival is poor. Clinical treatment advancements have been few and far between. Until now, no new first-line therapy has been shown to improve survival since the drug sorafenib was approved in 2007. Both atezolizumab and bevacizumab are monoclonal antibodies — specialized drugs that attach themselves to specific proteins and disable them — and they have already been used alone and in combination with other therapies to treat other cancers. Atezolizumab targets a protein produced by cancer cells that shuts down the immune system’s infection-fighting T cells, preventing them from attacking the cancer. Bevacizumab interferes with a tumor’s blood supply, preventing the cancer from growing and spreading through the body. “By using these two drugs with different mechanisms of action together, we have increased the number of patients who respond to this treatment and have increased the duration of these responses as compared to the standard treatment, sorafenib,” said Finn. The trial included 501 people, aged 18 and over, from multiple centers worldwide, who had advanced metastatic or unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Two-thirds of participants were randomly assigned to receive the atezolizumab and bevacizumab combination, while one-third received sorafenib. Twelve months after the start of treatment, the rate of survival with the combination was 67.2%, compared with 54.6% for the group on sorafenib. “Liver cancer is one of the few cancers that is growing in incidence and death rate,” Finn said. “That’s why it’s so important that we now have something in the front-line setting – after more than a decade – that markedly improves survival in this very challenging disease.” According to the American Cancer Society, liver cancer incidence rates have more than tripled, and death rates have more than doubled, since 1980. Some 800,000 people are diagnosed with this cancer each year, and it is a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, accounting for more than 700,000 deaths annually. UCLA Health has a comprehensive liver cancer program with a multidisciplinary team to bring the latest treatments to people with all stages of liver cancer. Tecentriq (atezolizumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab) are registered trademarks of Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. To read the original article click here.

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