LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

inflammation

COX Inhibitors in Broad Role in Cancer Prevention And Treatment – (05-21-01)

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COX Inhibitors in Broad Role in Cancer Prevention And Treatment

Envision the very slippery slope we tread with this one, with the pharmaceutical companies wringing their hands and drooling at the mere prospect. Recall how often we talk about inflammation as a contributor to just about every chronic disease known to man. So is it any big shocker when a drug designed to lower one pathway of inflammation lowers the risk of one of these chronic diseases? Of course not. And recall also that there are literally hundreds of natural ways to lower your overall inflammatory burden without drugs…

American Cancer Society Science Writers Seminar Cyclooxygenase inhibitors may not only have the potential to reduce precancerous colon polyps, they may also play a role in slowing the development of many other cancers, according to a presentation Tuesday at the American Cancer Society Science Writers Seminar. Dr. Ernest Hawk of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland said it may be possible to intervene at every stage, from pre-invasive lesions to advanced cancers, in a broad range of organs. “Cyclooxygenase-2 appears to be overexpressed, and appears to correlate very tightly with carcinogenesis in a number of target organs — really, most every target organ we’ve seen so far: head and neck cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic, breast, prostate,” Dr. Hawk said. “And I’ll note that there is additional work suggesting that overexpression exists among almost every other tumor, in both animal models as well as [in] human settings.” According to Dr. Hawk, more than a half-dozen COX-2 inhibitors are currently under investigation for anticancer effects. Expanded studies of the most well-developed COX-2 inhibitor, celecoxib, are being performed by the National Cancer Institute and the pharmaceutical manufacturer Pharmacia, he said. “We have a trial here that will look at tackling cyclooxygenase at an earlier step in familial adenomatous polyposis patients…before the flagrant phenotypic manifestation of hundreds of adenomas in the colon,” he explained. “We’re going to see if we can use this drug to delay phenotypic expression, and so, thereby, potentially…delay the time of surgery so that these children and young adults could live with their colons for a longer period of time.” Dr. Hawk said that researchers are also excited by animal and laboratory studies indicating synergistic effects of COX inhibitors with statins and other agents, which might provide stronger anticancer effects while preventing serious side effects

The OTHER Organ You May Have That You Don’t Know You Have

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Ask any high school kid to list the organs of the body and you’ll get the typical responses: Heart, liver, brain, kidneys, stomach. Maybe even an adrenal If he or she stayed awake in biology.  But some organ systems are created, not provided in the womb.

Sure, some consider the bacteria in the gut as its own organ system.  After all, it detoxifies, protects from invaders and releases hordes of chemical signals.  Despite the poor overall knowledge of this organ system, it’s not the one I’m talking about here.

This particular organ system is not present in everyone, although, unfortunately, it is present in far too large of a percentage of today’s population.

It produces a very large number of hormones that drive your risk of diabetes, heart health, inflammation and other conditions, all bad.  Worse, the weight of this organ may constitute up to HALF of your body weight.  That’s a big organ.

It’s the (or YOUR, if that’s the case) adipose tissue.  Most notably the gut.

Yes, the gut.  And you just thought it was there to keep you from checking out your toes on a regular basis.

Here’s the current theory.  The fat cells in your gut begin as extra calorie storage locations.  Adipose tissue in other areas of the body, like around the heart and thighs, although have this duty, but it’s the gut we normal point to as the greatest reservoir of extra calories.

That’s fine and dandy for a while.  Or, if you plan on hibernating and need the calories while you sleep through football season, then this is okay as well.

But gather too much extra tissue in that abdominal region and blood flow becomes an issue.  After all, the fat cells need nutrients in and waste products out as well, and if this process becomes congested, your fat cells are going to get a little upset with you.

This kick off the survival mode of your little abdominal buddy, leading to the production of hormones referred to as adipokines with names like visfatin, adiponectin and resistin.

These hormones are bad enough on their own, but there’s another problem brewing.  The adipose tissue contains a large number of stem cells, referred to as hematopoietic cells.  These cells can differentiate into immune cells that can be a major driver in inflammation.

This particular review gets a little more specific, stating that a single gram of adipose tissue can contain up to 5 million stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells.  About half of these cells (not counting the fat cells themselves) are white blood cells.

If you do the math and the Metric to English measurement conversions, that’s an awful lot of immune cells available to affect the rest of your system.

I’ve become very adept at explaining this concept recently because our office has begun using a laser liposuction device.  Laser, from a musculoskeletal-sprain-strain-pain based standpoint, has been known for decades to lower inflammation and increase blood flow.  Kind of a perfect salve for this inflamed, hypoxic organ too many of us are carrying around our middles.  (You can read more about this laser lipo procedure by on our website by clicking here)

Overall, though, the take home message is that the lump around your middle does not just affect the way you’re going to look in that Speedo, it drives a very dangerous and damaging organ that catapults you towards chronic disease and an early death.

 

Anti-TNF, IL-10, antibiotics in indometacin-induced bowel inflammation – (10-18-01)

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Anti-TNF, IL-10, antibiotics in indometacin-induced bowel inflammation

This is an interesting article that implicates both TNF-alpha and anaerobic bacteria in the development of Crohn’s disease. So we are using fancy new drugs to block TNF-alpha (we all know my opinion on THIS one…); where is the other half of the therapy designed to address to harmful bacteria? A global approach to Crohn’s includes probiotics, avoidance of refined sugars and managing insulin levels and obesity (both stimulate TNF-alpha production).

Synergy : Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics 15 (11), 1827-1836

Read entire article here

Bromination of deoxycytidine by eosinophil peroxidase – (02-26-01)

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Bromination of deoxycytidine by eosinophil peroxidase: A mechanism for mutagenesis by oxidative damage of nucleotide precursors

I left the long title for effect. Basically, this article described one mechanism by which chronic inflammation can lead to DNA mutations and subsequent cancer. Inflammation contributes to so many other chronic diseases; why should cancer be any different??

PNAS — Abstracts: Henderson et al. 98 (4): 1631

Read entire article here

Inflammation Continues After Prednisolone Rx in Asthmatic Children – (09-11-00)

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Inflammation Continues After Prednisolone Rx in Asthmatic Children

Is this a great example of just covering up the symptoms?? This study shows that despite apparent benefits of using predisolone (a steroidal drug with many damaging side effects) the underlying inflammation that causes the actual problem is not touched. There are many natural ways to control the inflammation associated with asthma.

Arch Dis Child 2000;83:158-162 The researchers examined the levels of markers, before and after 5 days of oral prednisolone therapy, in 20 children who were hospitalized for acute asthma. Prednisolone treatment was associated with clinical improvement and with significant reduction in serum levels of interleukin (IL)-5, soluble IL-2 receptor and eosinophil cationic protein. However, serum concentrations of these markers “remained significantly higher than in controls, even after treatment with oral glucocorticoids.” Because of this, the researchers conclude that following the usual course of prednisolone “there is evidence of continuing airway inflammation despite resolution of symptoms and normalization of pulmonary function.”

 

The renaissance of C reactive protein – (01-13-01)

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The renaissance of C reactive protein

This is a nice editorial reviewing current concepts of CRP. Many researchers have been touting the importance of CRP and heart disease risk; the research continues to support this. The importance of this has to do with the fact that CRP is a marker for inflammation and that inflammation is a key factor in the development of many diseases. Keeping inflammation under control is of extreme importance in health.

bmj.com Pepys and Berger 322 (7277): 4

Read entire article here

Low Circulating Vitamin B6 Is Associated With Elevation of the CRP – (06-21-01)

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Low Circulating Vitamin B6 Is Associated With Elevation of the CRP

Many of the B vitamins have a large impact on our health in a variety of ways. This article suggests that B6 has a direct ability to lower inflammatory markers. And, since inflammation has been tied to so many of today’s chronic diseases, a multivitamin complex along with a diet complete with fresh fruits, veggies and whole grains will go a long way in preventative medicine. As an aside, this study used P-5-P…the active form of vitamin B6. When B6 is taken in, it has to go to the liver to be phosphorylated and this puts extra work on the liver. P-5-P is probably the most bioavailable form of B6.

Circulation — Abstracts: Friso et al. 103 (23): 2788

Read entire article here

Markers of bone, cartilage, and synovial tissue w/ knee osteoarthritis – (06-21-01)

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Markers of bone, cartilage, and synovial tissue w/ knee osteoarthritis

More and more, a new theory of osteoarthritis is emerging–one which views OA as a systemic condition affecting the nutrition of the joints surfaces themselves. This could drastically change the way we treat OA. Current Western therapies focus only on the reduction of overall inflammation in an attempt to control pain in the joint and does absolutely nothing to affect the nutrition of the joint surfaces themselves. Besides nutritional therapies to support health cartilage function, chiropractic physicians for years have known that manipulation increases the exchange of fluids out of and into the avascular joint surfaces.

Ann Rheum Dis — Abstracts: Garnero et al. 60 (6): 619

Read entire article here