Enzymatic Biochemical Treatment Protocols

Walters Options The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book (1993) contains a short introduction to the subject under the section Metabolic Therapies, with the statement that proteolytic (protein-digesting) enzymes are believed to dissolve the walls of cancer cells, and that enzyme treatments are widely used in Europe. More specifically, enzymes are used variously in what are called Issels therapy, in Wheatgrass therapy, in the Gerson diet, in Kelley s therapy, and in Niepa- s therapy (Walters, 1993, pp. 86,147,198,207,216). It is noted furthermore that chranotherapy destroys the body s enzymes, that cooking destroys the enzymes in food, and that enzymes may be involved in the so-called spontaneous remission of cancer (Walters, 1993, pp. 155,201). Also noted, in the work of Hans Niepa-, is that the enzyme bromelain, derived from pineapple roots, will deshield cancer cells, as will beta-carotene (Walters, 1993, p. 222). 

As a special case of an raizyme, there is what is called supCTOxide dismutase, or SOD, which has been used in cancer treatmraiL Moss (1992) contains a chapter on the subject (with disclaimers), and WaltCTs (1993) motions it several times. Its main effects are other than catalytic, however, in that it evidently serves as a free radical scavenger, and as an internal source for hydrograi peroxide, which is also considered an anticanc agent 

In a chapter titled Enzymes Versus Cancer, Hasselberger traces the discovery in 1934 by Freund, in Vienna, of a normal substance that dissolves cancer cells (Hasselberger, 1978, p. 141ff). This mysterious substance is not found in the blood or serum of cancer patients, nor in the urine. In its absence, cancer cells were protected against dissolution by normal serum. Furthermore, when sufficient cancer serum lacking the normal substance was added to normal serum, the cell-sphtting ability of the normal serum was lost. 

This normal substance was later identified as a cell-sphtting enzyme that decomposes proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Its protective action is inhibited by cholesterol esters such as cholesterol succinate and cholesterol butyrate. (Hraice, the exclusion of fats in the diet is apparently well justified.) A low level of proteolytic enzymes seems to indicate a predisposition to cancer, and levels decrease in the sickly and the elderly. 

Parallel with, or anticipating these developments, was the work of John Beard (1858-1924), who for 30 years was a comparative embryologist at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, and who wrote a book called The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer (Moss, 1992, p. 308 Hasselbrager, 1978, pp. 139, 140). Few enzymes were known in those times, and known ones were impure at that, so Beard s contribution on the role of enzymes in cancer therapy did not receive a fair trial. The work has continued, however, notably using pancreatic enzymes, with Beard s theories helping to lay the groundwork. 

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Vitamin Bi (thiamin) is related to beriberi, a disease associated with a deficiency of this vitamin. In fact, thiamin is a coenzyme in different biochemical reactions. Pork, legumes, as well as liver and kidney products are regarded as excellent sources of this vitamin. Thiamin, as well as other water-soluble vitamins, is frequently found bound to proteins or carbohydrates or even phosphorylated. Therefore, prior to their analysis, a sample treatment to release the free forms of the vitamin is common. A t)q)ical extraction protocol for water-soluble vitamins includes autoclaving the sample with hydrochloric acid for the acid hydrolysis of the vitamin followed by an adjustment in the pH to values around 4.0—4.5, adequate for an enzymatic treatment. This vitamin can be, subsequently, separated by ion-pair RP chromatography and detected with a fluorescence detector after postcolumn oxidation to thiochrome. MS detection through electrospray ionization is also used, although the separation pH should be adjusted to maximize the ionization of the vitamin. 

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