Outlawing nature in the name of profit...

[Burnt Hill]

That's pretty convincing evidence that CBD oil works.

[liminalOyster]

That's pretty convincing evidence that CBD oil works.

Patent No. 6,630,507: Why the U.S. government holds a patent on cannabis plant compounds
http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/08/22/m ... ife/61255/

[Burnt Hill]

Thanks for that link liminalOyster.
I have been out of that scene for a long time.
Good site to get caught up.

[cptmarginal]

https://medicalupdateonline.com/2021/06/liposomal-ivermectin-in-cancer-treatment/

I grabbed that quote from a different thread & will use it as a jumping-off point here.

The fact is that there are hundreds of promising small molecule natural substances that have proven efficacy in the treatment of cancer but you won't ever be told to take them by doctors unless they can be made patentable. This can be made possible through either modification of the natural substance itself or through the creation of monoclonal antibodies that will pass on the effect of the substance (peptide, flavonoid, polyphenol etc) to another animal.

Has anyone here heard of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy for cancer before? Research in this area won the 2018 Nobel Prize in medicine, and it is quite the breakthrough when it comes to understanding the mechanisms that cause cancer.



However the existing ICB protocols still have a pretty low success rate in humans. The idea is to inhibit a particular gene called PD-1 or "programmed-death-1" using monoclonal antibodies, which is where the patents and profits come in. Nobody will tell you that the branded monoclonal antibodies used to inhibit PD-1 (and various other complex genetic factors that I am simplifying here) are being used preferentially because they are patented by companies like GSK, Bristol Myers, or Gilead. The monoclonal antibodies themselves can be produced by using the previously mentioned natural small molecule substances i.e. things like curcumin or reishi mushroom in bio-available forms, as you can see here just for one example:

https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3415471

Astragalus membranaceus-Derived Anti-Programmed Death-1 Monoclonal Antibodies with Immunomodulatory Therapeutic Effects against Tumors

2020 Mar 3

Abstract

Astragalus membranaceus polysaccharide (APS) components are main ingredients of TCM and have proven efficacy to activate T cells and B cells, enhancing immunity in humans. In this study, elevated cytokine and anti-PD-1 antibody titers were found in mice after immunization with APS. Therefore, phage-display technology was utilized to isolate specific anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibodies from mice stimulated by APS and to confirm whether the isolated anti-PD-1 antibody could inhibit the interaction of PD-1 with the programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), resulting in tumor growth inhibition. The isolated single-chain fragment variable (scFv) S12 exhibited the highest binding affinity of 20 nM to PD-1, completed the interaction between PD-1 and PD-L1, and blocked the effect of PD-L1-induced T cell exhaustion in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro. In the animal model, the tumor growth inhibition effect after scFv S12 treatment was approximately 48%. However, meaningful synergistic effects were not observed when scFv S12 was used as a cotreatment with ixabepilone. Moreover, this treatment caused a reduction in the number of tumor-associated macrophages in the tumor tissue. These experimental results indirectly indicate the ability of APS to induce specific antibodies associated with the immune checkpoint system and the potential benefits for improving immunity in humans.

As you can see, it would likely make just as much sense to give the natural small molecule substance capable of inhibiting the gene in the first place rather than the monoclonal antibodies derived from the animal, especially since these patented monoclonal products are known to have nasty side effects and wreak havoc on the immune system. Astragalus, apigenin, curcumin or reishi - none of these have the slightest side effect; the only challenge is getting the blood levels of curcumin or whatever high enough to effectively inhibit the PD-1 gene pathway. So bio-availability is an issue but a solvable one for sure. It's possible to get the blood levels of curcumin high enough just through dietary intake, given the right approach - in fact it can be superior because small molecule substances get into areas of the gut and the microbiome that can be beneficial. I confirmed the feasibility of this dietary approach myself through reading dozens of restricted access studies via sci-hub, including an introduction to ICB therapy that explains this in detail.

Here are a couple of handy graphics that list some of the key substances in this field. I do have DOI links for where these came from but it's pointless for me to dig them out. Get familiar with sci-hub if you want to read up on this stuff.





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Alright, so what does this have to do with ivermectin and why did I quote Grizzly's post at the top?

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-021-00229-5

Ivermectin converts cold tumors hot and synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade for treatment of breast cancer

Published: 02 March 2021

Abstract

We show that treatment with the FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug ivermectin induces immunogenic cancer cell death (ICD) and robust T cell infiltration into breast tumors. As an allosteric modulator of the ATP/P2X4/P2X7 axis which operates in both cancer and immune cells, ivermectin also selectively targets immunosuppressive populations including myeloid cells and Tregs, resulting in enhanced Teff/Tregs ratio. While neither agent alone showed efficacy in vivo, combination therapy with ivermectin and checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD1 antibody achieved synergy in limiting tumor growth (p = 0.03) and promoted complete responses (p < 0.01), also leading to immunity against contralateral re-challenge with demonstrated anti-tumor immune responses. Going beyond primary tumors, this combination achieved significant reduction in relapse after neoadjuvant (p = 0.03) and adjuvant treatment (p < 0.001), and potential cures in metastatic disease (p < 0.001). Statistical modeling confirmed bona fide synergistic activity in both the adjuvant (p = 0.007) and metastatic settings (p < 0.001). Ivermectin has dual immunomodulatory and ICD-inducing effects in breast cancer, converting cold tumors hot, thus represents a rational mechanistic partner with checkpoint blockade.

https://doi.org/10.1097/01.COT.0000751988.88253.c3

Use of the Anti-Parasitic Drug Ivermectin to Treat Breast Cancer

Lee, Peter P. MD
Oncology Times: May 5, 2021

Despite significant advances in the treatment of breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains the most difficult subtype to treat. As the name implies, triple-negative breast cancer cells lack three key proteins—receptors for the estrogen and progesterone hormones, and the protein HER2—which are targets for many effective breast cancer drugs today.

With that in mind, our team wanted to uncover new therapeutic combinations that could treat TNBC and provide more treatment options to these patients.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy has emerged as a revolutionary approach that harnesses a patient's own immune system to treat cancer. However, checkpoint inhibitors as single agents are only effective in a subset of patients and cancer types. They've had little impact in breast cancer.

Recent studies suggest that efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors is primarily limited to cancers already infiltrated by T cells—often termed “hot” tumors. In contrast, “cold” tumors have little to no T-cell infiltration and generally do not respond to ICI therapy. As such, there is considerable need to identify drugs capable of priming breast tumors (turning “cold” tumors “hot”) to synergize with checkpoint blockade.

A recently described phenomenon, termed immunogenic cell death (ICD), is a form of cell death that stimulates the host immune system. We reasoned that an agent that induces ICD of cancer cells without suppressing immune function would be ideal for combination with ICI therapy.

Seeking such an agent among FDA-approved drugs, our group found that ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug used worldwide since 1975 to treat close to 1 billion people primarily for river blindness and other parasitic infections, promotes ICD in breast cancer cells. Among our other findings was evidence that ivermectin modulates the P2X4/P2X7 purinergic pathway, suggesting that ivermectin may further harness tumors' intrinsic high extracellular levels of ATP for anti-cancer activity.

These promising in vitro results prompted us to move forward to in vivo studies using a common animal model of TNBC. In this model, breast tumors are “cold,” indicating little or no infiltrating T cells. Ivermectin treatment led to robust T-cell infiltration turning cold tumors into hot tumors with cancer cells showing markers of ICD in vivo.

The ability to turn TNBC tumors from cold to hot suggested that ivermectin could synergize with ICI therapy (such as with anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibodies). Immune checkpoint inhibitors block the PD-1 protein, which acts as a brake on T cells, thus helping the immune system do what it is designed to do: eradicate cancer.

Our findings on this novel therapeutic combination published recently in npj Breast Cancer journal (2021; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-021-00229-5). This is the first time a research team has demonstrated that checkpoint inhibitors can be used to successfully treat breast cancer—when combined with ivermectin, an inexpensive, existing safe drug.

In these studies, 40-60 percent of animals treated with the ivermectin plus anti-PD1 antibody combination completely eradicated their tumors. They were able to fight off the cancer again after it was reintroduced. It's the two drugs working together that is the magic. Either drug alone has almost zero effect, but together they have a powerful synergistic effect.

Our team then tested the combination across a spectrum of clinically relevant settings. We found that the therapeutic combination also worked in neoadjuvant models (before surgery) and adjuvant models (after surgery). Most importantly, the combination worked against metastatic breast cancer, potentially curing 50 percent of animals.

Based on its novel dual mechanisms of action (anti-cancer and immunomodulatory) in cancer, ivermectin may also potentiate the anti-tumor activity of other FDA-approved ICIs. Ivermectin is safe and inexpensive at roughly $30 a dose, making it attainable for everyone including cancer patients in developing countries.

These preclinical findings suggest that the combination of ivermectin and anti-PD1 antibody merits clinical testing in breast cancer patients. We are now planning to test optimal dosing levels for a potential first-in-human clinical trial. Interestingly, in the last year, ivermectin has also demonstrated efficacy against COVID-19, and it is being tested in dozens of clinical trials to both prevent and treat the virus.

Again: they are using a patented monoclonal antibody anti-PD-1 approach here, and those products are known to have side effects on the immune system. I am not qualified to say for sure that using natural small molecule substances could achieve the same result of inhibiting the gene pathway, but you can see that it is not far-fetched from reading the research on astragalus posted as an example above. They literally created a new anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody using this perfectly safe (not very bio-available) plant extract.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the available research.

[Harvey]

Cheers cptmarginal. The scale of the onslaught against Ivermectin is begining to make even more sense.

[stickdog99]

A cardiologist says she's seeing a rise in 20-somethings with heart arrhythmias caused by herbal supplements

[Pele'sDaughter]

Of course, not that I believe it's a problem in the first place, but the solution would be to educate the public about herbs; not make access harder. This isn't the first attack on herbal supplements.I don't take either of the ones demonized in the article, so I have no experience there. I did a lot of research about supplements that I am taking.