Low Dose Naltexone and Cancer Part 1

LDN and Cancer
In Brief  Recent Developments  Noteworthy Cases  Background  LDN Homepage

In Brief
Although prospective, controlled clinical trials on LDN in the treatment of cancer are yet to be accomplished, as of March 2004 clinical "off-label" use of this medication by Dr. Bihari in some 450 patients with cancer almost all of whom had failed to respond to standard treatments suggests that more than 60% of patients with cancer may significantly benefit from LDN.
Of the 354 patients with whom Dr. Bihari had regular follow-up, 86 have shown objective signs of significant tumor shrinkage, at least a 75% reduction. 125 patients have stabilized and/or are moving toward remission.
Dr. Bihari's results sharply contrast to prior usual cancer treatment outcomes: either a cancer-induced death or a total cure. LDN therapy presents a viable third alternative, the possible long-term stabilization and/or gradual reduction of tumor mass volume.
Thus, with LDN, cancer can — in some cases — become a manageable chronic disease. Patients have the possibility of living free of symptoms, without, in many cases, the crippling side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
> How It Works
Low dose naltrexone might exert its effects on tumor growth through a mix of three possible mechanisms:
1.By inducing increases of metenkephalin (an endorphin produced in large amounts in the adrenal medulla) and beta endorphin in the blood stream;
2.By inducing an increase in the number and density of opiate receptors on the tumor cell membranes, thereby making them more responsive to the growth-inhibiting effects of the already-present levels of endorphins, which induce apoptosis (cell death) in the cancer cells; and
3.By increasing the natural killer (NK) cell numbers and NK cell activity and lymphocyte activated CD8 numbers, which are quite responsive to increased levels of endorphins.