ANTIANGIOGENESIS

THE NEW CURE FOR CANCER? LAUREN GINN ENGLISH 1102

I AM ANGIOGENESIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDplHfJHjp8

WHAT IS ANGIOGENESIS?
According to The Angiogenesis Foundation, Angiogenesis is the growth and development of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones. It is a vital part of the growth and development of the human body because: it carries vital nutrients, oxygen, and blood to every cell in the body. It helps to heal wounds It is essential to pregnancy and developing new blood vessels for a fetus.

HOW IS ANTIANGIOGENESIS INVOLVED WITH CANCER?

When a tumor is created, it needs blood, oxygen, and nutrients in order to grow and develop this is the job of the blood vessels created by angiogenesis. Once this has been established, the blood vessels are used as a transport mechanism and cancerous cells travel through them in order to spread and infect other parts of the body. This process is called metastasis. Once cancer reaches the metastatic stage, it is much harder to fight and becomes much more deadly than it was before because it has spread and is not in one central location. The thought with antiangiogenesis is that if the source of the blood supply and nutrients is cut off then a tumor will not be able to grow and spread. This will cause the cancer to become microscopic and virtually eliminated (Li).

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Cancer affects everyone in some way everyone knows someone who has been affected by the silent killer. Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases known to mankind roughly 1,660,290 people were diagnosed with cancer 2013. Almost 580,350 people died due to cancer in 2013. - There are an estimated 13,027,914 people currently living with all cancer sites in the United States (SEER). A person has almost a 50% (1/2) chance of getting cancer in their lifetime and almost a 25% (1/4) chance of dying from the same cancer in only a few years (Chances). Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. - Jim Valvano

SOURCE 1: NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS THAT INHIBIT ANGIOGENESIS: A POTENTIAL SOURCE FOR INVESTIGATIONAL NEW AGENTS TO TREAT CANCER PART 1
S.M. Sagar, MD, D. Yance, MH, and R.K. Wong, MD researched and wrote an article on the effectiveness of natural antiangiogenic health products to combat cancer from the source angiogenesis. They studied this holistic type of cancer treatment in order to find new, more efficient ways to fight cancer. Through their study they found:
Certain health products from animals, such as shark cartilage, are capable of slowing down angiogenesis as well as metastasis. The shark cartilage, however, did not give great test results and is therefore not a reliable source of antiangiogenesis. Adding any type of cytotoxic drug (a drug that prohibits and prevents the function of a cell) is harmful to the body and will cause the body to shut down. Although this is true, they have had the ability to fight of cancerous cells by cutting off their function in recent trials. the herb Artemisinin, which is used clinically as an anti-malaria drugs, was proven to be somewhat angiangiogenic through this study. The extract was proven to be cytotoxic to cancer cells and caused them to lose function for some time. This helped to slow down the growth of the cancer and give rise to a healthier patient.

Overall, they found that most of these health products must be used in combination with radiation or chemotherapy in order to be effective in prohibiting any sort of cancerous activity.

SOURCE 2: TEDTALKS: CAN WE EAT TO STARVE CANCER?

In William Lis TEDTalks presentation of antiangiogenic treatment, he presented some of his finding from his research in antiangiogenic treatments so far: Antiangiogenic treatments in animals such as dolphins, horses, and dogs cured severe types of cancer and prolonged the animals life by as much as 4 years. A woman with breast cancer was treated with Avastin, causing her tumor to decrease from the size of a golfball to the size of a ballpoint pen tip. The average rate of survival of cancer patients using antiangiogenic therapy is up to 7 years longer than without using antiangiogenic therapy.

Along with this research, William Li looked at the diets role in affecting angiogenesis, and concluded the following things: Diet is responsible for 35% of all cancers. Eating antiangiogenic foods, including pineapple and pomegranate, and beverages such as red wine or green tea will reduce your chances of getting cancer The antiangiogenic foods reduce the angiogenesis in the body where it is not needed and help to reduce the chances of a cancerous tumor growing and become metastatic.

SOURCE 3: ANTIANGIOGENIC THERAPY IN COLORECTAL CANCER: MANAGING SIDE EFFECTS

David Cunninghams article about the side effects of antiangiogenic therapy focuses on the affects of bevacizumab, an antiangiogenic drug which blocks the VGEF factor ,in treating colorectal cancer (colon cancer). Through their database of over 300 patients, they found these common side effects: Hypertension (high blood pressure) Proteinuria (excessive serum proteins in urine) Thrombosis (blood clots inside blood vessels) Bleeding Impaired wound healing Gastrointestinal perforation (a hole that develops through the entire esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large bowel, rectum, or gallbladder).

To discuss the effectiveness and safety of antiangiogenic drugs, percentages were taken for the least and most fatal side effect. It was found that the most common side effect was hypertension (over 30% of test patients having it) and the more severe side effect gastrointestinal perforation only occurred in 1.5% of the patients. Overall, it was found that the antiangiogenic drug bevacizumab has side effects that can be lethal, but are very uncommon compared to hypertension, which is very easy to monitor and manage.

CREDIBILITY OF SOURCES
All three of the following sources came from some type of scholarly journal or a scholarly organization that chooses relevant, excellent research to publish. The area has been studied by each of the authors, which means that they are virtually experts on the subject and have done their own research in order to arrive at their conclusions. Each of these authors is some type of physician or have obtained a doctorate, which means that they have extensive education in the medical field or the area of research they are participating in. William Li from source 2 is the founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation and has been researching angiogenesis and its effects on various diseases for decades. David Cunningham from source 3 is an oncologist from London who has done extensive research in the area of cancer and also heads the department of gastrointestinal and lymphoma unit at the The Royal Marsden NHS Trust in London. S.M. Sagar, MD, D. Yance, MH, and R.K. Wong, MD from source 1 are all doctors of some type and have studied holistic health (natural healing) and cancer for their entire careers. The three doctors collaborated in order to research holistic health and its benefits to cancer.

REFLECTION ON SOURCES
Each of the sources in this presentation give evidence to support each of their claims. Each of the following articles are based on scientific experiments that have been conducted and they share the results that have been found: S.M. Sagar, D. Yance, and R.K. Wong used multiple types of natural health products and use research in order to discuss their validity. While looking at the makeup of these different natural healing products and their antiangiogenic properties, they were able to find which ones would be most effective and which ones would not help as much. William Lis research was incorporated into his presentation and was used as evidence to support his own personal belief about antiangiogenic therapy. He was able to prove his points by bringing in different points from different experiments that he has conducted this made his argument valid and gave him the ability to persuade people to believe what he was saying. David Cunninghams research was convincing because he took common symptoms from antiangiogenic drugs and found their percentage of occurrence and was able to relate that back to whether or not they are helpful in cancer treatment. He worked on many different types of patients with different types of health conditions and also used many different types of cancers in order to conclude his findings. This gives his research more validity and more credibility because it was based of multiple factors and not just one. Overall, the three sources were able to use their research and their experience with the antiangiogenic drugs to make concise arguments in this ongoing conversation and made some type of impact either significant or not.

REFLECTION OF SOURCES
While all the sources use credible information and research to make their claims, some of the conclusions are contradictory to one another: Source one explains that the antiangiogenic healing products that are natural will not be affective unless used along side radiation and chemotherapy. This completely contradicts the findings source two found. William Lis research, on the other hand, shows that the naturally antiangiogenic foods help to reduce cancer by some amount and that they wont need to be used along side anything else. He also found that the antiangiogenic drugs that he used were extremely effective they were enough to virtually eliminate multiple types of cancer that he treated. With these two contradicting conclusions, it is easy to see that no one knows for sure to what extent antiangiogenic therapy will help to cure cancer, but they do know that it will have some positive effect. In source three, there are multiple side effects that Cunningham mentions as part of antiangiogenic therapy, but he only goes on to mention the severity of one of them and the simplicity to control one of them. In this article, it is hard to pinpoint whether or not the antiangiogenic drugs ended up being an overall good thing, or an overall bad thing his statistics lead to the conclusion that it was helpful overall, but it is unclear of just how severe some of the other side effects are.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SOURCES

All of these articles are written for people knowledgeable about cancer or those that want to learn more about angiogenesis and the new information found every day. With this growing research, people will have a better idea of antiangiogenesis and just how helpful it will be for the world as we continue our fight against the silent killer. The research presented in these sources is just some of the research out there that tests the usefulness of antiangiogenic therapy and the affects good and bad.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Are there foods that enhance angiogenesis, just like how William Li claims foods can be naturally antiangiogenic? If so, could this have an effect on the rate of cancer growth in people who currently have tumors? Is it possible to use holistic health in order to cure cancer or any type of angiogenesis related disease, or is the only way through antiangiogenic therapy, radiation, stem cells, chemotherapy, ect.? Why are so many antiangiogenic drugs not FDA approved even though the antiangiogenic therapy has been around for years? Does it have to do with the side effects listened in source three?

WORKS CITED
Cunningham, David, MD. "Antiangiogenic Therapy in Colorectal Cancer: Managing Side Effects." Medscape Oncology. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. Li, William, MD, Michelle ,DSc, Rocerick Smith, MS, and Vincent Li, MD. Understanding Angiogenesis. Angiogenesis Foundation. 27 April 2012. Web. 8 February 2014. Li, William, MD. "Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?" TEDTalks. Feb. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. Lifetime Risk of Developing or Dying From Cancer. American Cancer Society. 5 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. Sagar, S. M., MD, D. Yance, MH, and R. K. Wong, MD. "Natural Health Products That Inhibit Angiogenesis: A Potential Source for Investigational New Agents to Treat Cancer." Current Oncology. Feb. 2006. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. SEER Stat Fact Sheet: All Cancer Sites National Cancer Institute. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.