reading material

[Guest guest]

Naltrexone reading material

Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 23:17:57 -0700

From: " A. Benson "

Subject: [PHML] Fw: [PC-SPES] Naltrexone reading material

To: PROSTATE-HELP@...

NOTE: Naltrexone hydrochloride is an FDA-approved drug manufatured by

duPont/Merck Pharmaceuticals under the name Revia.

Date: Thursday, June 10, 1999 7:43 PM Subject: [PC-SPES] Naltrexone reading

material

Jerry Bostick was kind enough to point out a web site that had the complete text

of one of the articles and abstracts of other articles referenced in my earlier,

lengthy post about naltrexone. I think you will find this information of great

interest. It is located at http://www.datafork.com/naltrexo.htm. Hopefully, this

will lead to a dialog on naltrexone.

IF I DECIDE TO TAKE NALTREXONE, I WOULD CERTAINLY CONTACT DR. BIHARI FOR A

PRESCRIPTION. I WOULD ALSO HAVE MY DOC TALK WITH DR. BIHARI. PLEASE NOTE THAT

NALTREXONE DOES NOT WORK FOR EVERYONE AND THAT THE INFORMATION BELOW DOES NOT,

IN MY OPINION, CONSTITUTE CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT IT WILL WORK WITH ALL PROSTATE

CANCERS. I HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER IT WOULD BE COMPATIBLE OR NOT WITH CONCURRENT

TREATMENT WITH PC SPES, OR ANY OTHER PCA TREATMENT FOR THAT MATTER.

The article entitled " S. on Naltrexone " highlights some key issues of

interest:

1. About 20 physicians and several hundred persons with AIDS or ARC are now

using naltrexone. (Elsewhere in the article is the statement that naltrexone is

being used in the treatment of 15,000 AIDS patients by 600 dox in USA and

Europe. Dr. Bihari is the foremost user in the USA.)

2. A journal article is now being prepared on the study.

3. No side effects have ever been found at the small doses used for treating

AIDs or ARC (AIDS-related complex). The dose is 3 mg/day, as compared with the

dose of 50 mg/day for treating addictions.

4. Endorphins are a major link in communication between the brain and the immune

system. Naltrexone is an immune enhancer. It increases the endorphins--the

body's natural opiates--and the number and sensitivity of endorphin receptors on

cells. Every cell in the immune system has opiate receptors, which respond to

endorphins. What happens is that the endorphins block those opiate receptors at

first, following the dose of naltrexone. But the naltrexone also supercharges

the pituitary production of endorphins (specifically, beta endorphin and

metenkephalin). The blocking effects wears off in a few hours, but the

supercharged flow of endorphins continues through the day. The profusion of

endorphins seem to be the body's means of healing the immune system. AIDS and

cancer patients are both afflicted with immune systems not equal to the task of

fighting off the attacks. The endorphins seem to be a general tonic to the

immune system.

5. Endorphins are also a product of aerobic exercise and positive mental

attitudes, both of which are good for cancer patients.

6. The dose of naltrexone is taken at night so that the blocking effect will

have worn off by morning, when the pituitary produces the greatest amount of

endorphins. (This also explains the low dose. A high dose--50 mg--of naltrexone

will extend the blocking effect for the entire day; the low dose--3 mg--allows

the blocking effect to wear off after several hours. Once the blocking effect

wears off--i.e., the naltrexone disappears, the flood of endorphins continues to

the cells of the immune system, and the healing effect proceeds. At the high

dosage, there is never a time for this healing effect to take place.)

7. Lab experiments on mice were done by Zagon and McLaughlin. They showed that

when the opiate receptors were blocked 24 hours a day, the mice were subject to

growing tumors as a result of transplanted neuroblastoma (cancer of the nervous

system). However, when that blocking was reduced to 10 hours a day through

reduced dosage, the growth of tumors was delayed and survival increased

significantly. (The point to be made here is that it is not necessary for the

naltrexone to find the cancerous cells. Instead, the naltrexone supercharges the

production of endorphins--and enkephalins; then they are like spinach to the

immune system. The immune system then takes care of the process of tracking down

and stopping the growth of tumors.)

8. In another set of experiments by Zagon and McLaughlin, it was shown that

" endogenous opioid systems " (the body's endorphins) " regulate human

neuro-oncogenesis " (human nerve cancer cells transplanted into mice). They

showed that opioids (endorphins) are active inhibitors of growth. Further, when

the " blocking " period is short, due to a small dose of drug, there is " an

exaggerated antitumor effect during the interval when the antagonist (e.g.,

naltrexone) is no longer present.

9. The naltrexone also increases the number of receptor sites on the immune

system cells. That makes no difference during the blocking period, but it

results in a supercharged effect by the flood of endorphins when the blocking

dissipates. (Zagon and McLaughlin)

10. The " endogenous opioids are trophic agents that inhibit growth by

suppressing cell proliferation. " The " endogenous opioids " are endorphins, which

can be increased with naltrexone. " Trophic agents " are stimulating, or

communicating, biochemicals. The message they carry is to slow down the creation

of new cells. The body seems to make this message of suppression selective to

cancer cells ( " repression of tumorigenic events " ) (Zagon and McLaughlin)

11. Naltrexone seems to have an affinity for natural killer cells and for CD8

cytotoxic lymphocytes. This affinity could account for the effect on cancers.

12. Dr. Bihari reported a number of cancer cases in which the patients went into

remission. He reported 2 PCa patients whose tumors shrunk by 50% in 2-3 months;

then the patients went on standard therapies. He reported 2 cases of metastatic

PCa in which bone pain was alleviated within 3 weeks. No PSA data are available.

No indication whether the metastatic cases were also hormone-refractory.

13. The article about Dr. Bihari says that " certain types of cancers are dense

with receptors in their cell walls that are called opiate receptors. Endorphins

can dock on the site...and stop the growth, and they begin to shrink. " " Dr.

Bihari and Dr. Lewin have found that malignancies that arise from types of human

tissues that are dense with opiate receptor sites are the ones that have in some

cases responded positively to treatment with naltrexone. " Prostate tissue

apparently is rich with cells with opiate receptors. Apparently, (to me) these

opiate receptors must be on immune system cells located within the prostate

tissue. If this is the case, why should naltrexone work on cells that have

metastasized, or on PCa cells after the prostate has been removed. This is not

clear. Dr. Bihari did a study on opportunistic infections in patients taking

naltrexone. Opportunistic infections were eliminated in the case of patients

taking naltrexone; about a third of non-treated patients experienced such

infections. This experiment would seem to lead to the conclusion that it is the

immune system that is being enhanced; and that the immune system is then better

equipped to take on the cancer.

I encourage the initiation of a dialog on naltrexone.

Bob Benson