Cancer immunoediting: from immunosurveillance to tumor escape
My thoughts on most cases of cancers is that development of cancerous cells is constantly occurring and the immune system picks off these cells as they arise. It is only when the immune system is depleted (and pick your cause–stress, poor lifestyle, reductions that occur with aging) that cancer gains a foothold. The problem with this is that traditional approaches to treating cancer with chemotherapy destroys the immune system. Combining alternative therapies such as antioxidants, lifestyle changes, detoxification and herbs with “standard” care is showing strong trends towards being more effective. I believe this is from supporting the immune system while the chemotherapy works on the rapidly dividing cancerous cells. Traditional thinking has believed that antioxidants such as vitamin C and reduced glutathione would interfere with the chemo. However, research shows that their actions (such as inducing apoptosis–programmed cell death) only occur in ABERRANT cells–not healthy ones.
Nature Immunology