Detection of group of peptides with anti-cancer effects
Antineoplastons (ANPs) is a collective term for peptides and amino acid derivatives detected as an anti-cancer agent in 1967 by Stanislaw Burzynski, MD, PhD (Houston, Texas, USA).
Dr. Burzynski discovered for the first time in the world that the peptides naturally formed in the human body can control the growth of cancer cells. He paid attention to the fact that some kinds of peptide were deficient in the blood of cancer patients as compared to healthy individuals.
He named this group of substances “antineoplastons” (ANPs) and demonstrated that ANPs serve as the base for the formation of a biochemical defense system which suppresses cancer cells while keeping normal cells viable.
Chemically, ANPs are a mixture of organic acids (peptides and amino acid derivatives).
They are naturally formed in human blood and urine and can also be resynthesized artificially as drugs.
ANPs serve as a molecular switch. They switch off the activated abnormal cells and alter the oncogene and anti-oncogene expression networks, thus inducing apoptosis of cells through affecting the intracellular signal transduction and cell cycle. Abnormal cells are killed in this way.
Although ANPs trigger the disappearance of cancer cells, they do not suppress the growth of normal cells. In other words, ANPs are drugs for cancer treatment which act only on cancer cells, without injuring normal cells.
The progression of cancer is considered to be an outcome of oncogene activation and reduction in the anti-oncogene function. ANPs switch on anti-oncogenes and switch off oncogenes, thus restoring an appropriate balance in gene expression.
A globally noteworthy novel cancer therapy
Antineoplaston therapy is expected to be effective against many types of cancer. In the United States, clinical trials are under way on the use of ANP therapy for brain tumors, first of all, at the initiative of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Even in the United States at present, this therapeutic approach is tried only at the private clinic of Dr. Burzynski, and it has not yet been approved as a standard therapy. In Japan, it is a very new unapproved method of treatment about which little is known, even among specialists in cancer.
At our clinic, Masakazu Sawanobori (President) took notice of ANP therapy and attended the Burzynski Clinic to study it in detail. Later, ANP therapy began to be applied at our clinic under an affiliation with the Burzynski Clinic.
ANP therapy is effective against many types of cancer and can be characterized by an extremely low incidence of adverse reactions as compared to conventional anti-tumor agents.
This is a totally new method of cancer treatment which, because of its rarity, is difficult to receive in Japan and many other countries.
