Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 5:00 AM
Subject: THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (10/02/02)


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----
--
 Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com
 Newsletter #55 10/02/02
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----
 A Breakthrough Treatment

 As many of you know, I recently spent two weeks in
 Ireland studying cancer treatments there. I have
 returned with extremely important news. East
 Clinic, in Killaloe, has developed a new treatment
 program using what they call Cytoluminescent Therapy
 (CLT). Available only at this one clinic, CLT is an
 advanced form of photodynamic therapy, which uses light
 to fight cancer. Of course, light by itself cannot kill cancer cells.
 However, if patients are pre-treated with a drug called a sensitizer,
 and are then administered light of a certain wavelength, their cancer
 cells will die by the millions. This is because the energy of the
 beam of light sets off a "bomb" within the cell. The
 "bomb" in this case is singlet oxygen, a kind of free
 radical. This process does not harm normal cells
 because the sensitizing drug accumulates only in cancer
 and other abnormal tissues.


 In the course of my visit, I reviewed over 100 cases
 and spoke to dozens of patients. The results that I saw amazed me.
 Patients with all sorts of advanced cancers are getting measurably
 successful results. With this treatment, tumors may quickly start to
 die, in a process called "necrosis." In fact, in patients treated
 with CLT, doctors may have to slow down the
 cell-killing process to give the body time to detoxify
 so many dead cancer cells. Frequently, patients
 undergoing CLT obtain relief of pain and discomfort.
 Too-thin patients may gain weight. They are certainly
 infused with new hope.



 Many Cancers Respond



 What types of cancer respond to this treatment? The
 staff at East Clinic, headed by Dr. Paschal Carmody and
 Dr. William Porter, were entirely open about sharing
 data with me. I saw preliminary data on many different
 kinds of cancer. Here are brief descriptions of three patients whom I
 interviewed while I was there:


 --A man in his 50s with colon cancer that had
 metastasized to his liver. The number of metastases
 increased with each examination and finally reached
 sixteen. At the end of October 2001, his doctors told
 him, "Chemotherapy will buy you into the new year." In
 other words, they thought he had about two months to
 live. He chose instead to have CLT. By February 2002,
 the tumors had completely stopped growing. His feeling
 of well-being returned and he now works full-time at
 his occupation as a stained glass maker.


 --An American psychologist who had been diagnosed with
 stage IIB breast cancer. She had extensive lymph node involvement and
 "unclean" margins at her biopsy site. Her doctors demanded that she
 undergo surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. She refused and underwent
 photodynamic therapy instead. Today, almost four years
 later, she is doing well and has no signs of cancer.


 --An Irish man in his 70s with prostate cancer that had spread
 throughout his body, with massive bone involvement. He was brought to
 the clinic practically moribund. Months later, he has gained weight,
 has less pain and is back at his normal occupation as a breeder
 and trainer of horses. The day I saw him he had just
 accomplished the physically demanding task of bringing
 several feisty horses to market.


 How is it that a single treatment modality has the
 potential to affect such a great variety of cancer
 types? Aren't all cancers different? Yes, in some ways
 they are, yet they have one fundamental thing in
 common: all cancers are by definition metabolically
 abnormal cells. They share an inability to rid
 themselves of the sensitizer chemicals, whereas normal
 cells are better able to expel them.



 100 Years of Light Therapy



 East Clinic pioneered CLT but did not invent
 photodynamic therapy, or PDT. In fact, that treatment
 has been around for nearly 100 years. A Nobel Prize was awarded to the
 pioneer of light treatment, Niels Finsen, in 1903. The first cure (of
 a basal cell carcinoma of the lip) occurred in Germany in the
 following year. With the advent of X rays and
 chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy fell into disuse for
 many years. In the 1970s, a doctor in Buffalo, New
 York, used a substance called Hpd and visible red light
 to eradicate a tumor. In the following decade, the Food
 and Drug Administration (FDA) finally approved one
 drug, Photofrin, to be used in the light treatment of
 various kinds of cancer.


 No doubt, this FDA-approved treatment has racked up
 some good results over the years. In one study,
 patients who had previously been failed by conventional treatments
 were given Photofrin-based PDT. In 70 to 80 percent of cases their
 tumors responded positively after only one treatment. However, this
 "first generation" drug has several serious drawbacks. It is
 not very specific to cancer cells and tends to
 accumulate in normal tissues as well. This means that
 not just cancer but normal organs also can be damaged
 by the treatment.


 In addition, it does not clear rapidly from the human
 body. Thus, when patients receive Photofrin, they must
 stay out of the sun for a month or more, or else a
 severe sunburn will result. Larger and deep-seated
 tumors generally cannot be treated with this agent.


 Finally, because of the lack of sensitivity,
 conventional PDT generally has to be delivered through
 fiber optic probes inserted into cavities in the human
 body. This is an invasive procedure -- not as invasive
 as surgery, to be sure, but still unpleasant and
 potentially dangerous. It also limits the number of
 sites that can be treated.


 East Clinic's innovative approach addresses all of
 these concerns. First of all, the sensitizing agents
 they use are superior to Photofrin and even to
 so-called "second generation" experimental agents in development
 around the world. Almost all other sensitizers are red-pigmented and
 are derived from ox blood. However, East Clinic's agents are derived
 from green plants. This yields a much more sensitive,
 effective and less toxic product.


 The agents in question are injected intravenously and
 also given by mouth. They generally clear from normal
 tissues after 12 to 24 hours. Thus, after a day or so, patients can
 usually go about their business and are not held captive in their
 homes for weeks and months, fearing terrible skin reactions.


 Prof. Colin Hopper of University College, London, wrote
 in the outstanding medical journal Lancet Oncology: "Photodynamic
 therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive treatment with great promise in
 malignant disease. It can be applied before or after chemotherapy,
 ionizing radiation or surgery, without compromising these
 treatments or being compromised itself. Unlike
 radiotherapy or surgery it can be repeated many times
 at the same site. Response rates and the durability of
 response with PDT are as good as or better than those
 with standard loco-regional treatments. Furthermore,
 there is less morbidity and better functional and
 cosmetic outcome." And he was talking about the old,
 outdated form of PDT, not the more effective CLT.


 A decade ago, Dr. Jacob Liberman wrote: "I can foresee
 that, in the near future, photodynamic therapy, alone
 or in combination with other conventional techniques,
 will be able to successfully treat most, if not all,
 cancers and other life-threatening diseases."


 In my book Cancer Therapy (1992), I too wrote enthusiastically about
 the promise of PDT. I have always maintained the hope that someday,
 someone would come up with a form of light therapy that would fulfill
 its enormous potential. I believe that time has come.
 I'm very hopeful that many cancer patients will be
 tremendously helped through East Clinic's more potent
 and precisely targeted, and less toxic and invasive,
 approach to this treatment modality.



 New Program Available



 Under the direction of Drs. Carmody and Porter, East
 Clinic has begun offering one-week intensive treatment programs for
 cancer patients. The next one will start on November 17, 2002. I was
 so impressed by the innovative work at this clinic that I offered to
 deliver a series of lectures on cancer as part of the
 clinic's educational program for patients. I will be
 returning periodically to Ireland and speaking in this
 Evening Lecture Series. The first such program will be
 held during the week of November 17. During that week I
 will be available to participating patients for
 question-and-answer sessions and for individual
 conferences as well.


 East Clinic is located in Killaloe, a peaceful and
 historic town on the Shannon River, about 45 minutes
 east of Shannon Airport. Dr. Carmody has 25 years of experience as a
 complementary and alternative medicine
 (CAM) physician, and so the program will include detoxification,
 immune support, nutritional guidance, and psychotherapy. Dr. Porter is
 an American-trained physician with long experience in the use of
 lasers. Drs. Porter and Carmody and their staff struck me as
 sincere in their desire and ability to provide a
 well-rounded program. In order to give optimum
 attention to each participant, they will have to limit
 the number of patients accepted into the program each
 month. This will keep the quality of individual care
 and attention high. It will be a pleasure for me to
 interact with these patients and their caregivers both
 in a group setting and on a one-on-one basis.


 You should understand that this is an outpatient
 facility, not a hospital, and that the clinic cannot accommodate
 everyone who might wish to come. To receive more information about the
 clinic and its treatment program, please contact the executive
 secretary, Ms. Mary Gaughan, Cytoluminescent Therapy Program at East
 Clinic, Killaloe, Ct. Clare, Ireland. Phone: + 353 61
 375-815. (If you are calling from the US you need to
 preface this number with the numbers "011".) Or you can
 email her at: photodyn@gofree.indigo.ie


 If you are interested in reading more about the form of
 CLT given at East Clinic, you can visit their website:
 www.cancerpdt.info This will provide you with more information on this
 exciting new treatment.



 --Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

 ======================


 References


 PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's database of published
 medical research, contains over 8,000 references on photodynamic
 therapy. Half of these references are specifically on cancer. Some
 very good discussions include:


 Dougherty TJ. Photodynamic therapy: new approaches.
 Semin Surg Oncol 1989;5:6-16.


 Hopper C. Photodynamic therapy: a clinical reality in the treatment of
 cancer. Lancet Oncol 2000;1:212-9.


 Liberman J. Light: Medicine of the Future. Santa Fe:
 Bear & Co. 1991


 Perez C and Brady LW, eds. Principles and Practice of Radiation
 Oncology, 3rd Ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1998.

 ------------------------------------------------
 IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER


 The news and other items in this newsletter are
 intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in
 this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for professional
 medical advice.


 To SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER:  Please go to
 http://www.cancerdecisions.com/subscr.html
 and follow the instructions to be automatically
 added to this list.  Thank you.