Dr. Berkson's 2009 Videos - Pancreatic Cancer, RA, Lupus, Lymphoma, more

Dr. Berkson was the keynote speaker at the recent Low Dose Naltrexone Conference held in Bethesda Md. at the NIH - National Institute of Health. There, he presented a 2 hour presentation detailing his successful treatments of various disorders, including pancreatic cancer, b-cell lymphoma, RA, Lupus, breast cancer, liver cancer and cirrhosis, among other diseases.

Newly published abstract about Dr. Berkon's use of ALA and LDN in treating 3 pancreatic cancer patients:


Revisiting the ALA/N (alpha-lipoic acid/low-dose naltrexone) protocol for people with metastatic and nonmetastatic pancreatic cancer: a report of 3 new cases.

Berkson BM, Rubin DM, Berkson AJ.




The Integrative Medical Center of New Mexico, Las Cruces, NM, USA.

The authors, in a previous article, described the long-term survival of a man with pancreatic cancer and metastases to the liver, treated with intravenous alpha-lipoic acid and oral low-dose naltrexone (ALA/N) without any adverse effects. He is alive and well 78 months after initial presentation. Three additional pancreatic cancer case studies are presented in this article. At the time of this writing, the first patient, GB, is alive and well 39 months after presenting with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas with metastases to the liver. The second patient, JK, who presented to the clinic with the same diagnosis was treated with the ALA/N protocol and after 5 months of therapy, PET scan demonstrated no evidence of disease. The third patient, RC, in addition to his pancreatic cancer with liver and retroperitoneal metastases, has a history of B-cell lymphoma and prostate adenocarcinoma. After 4 months of the ALA/N protocol his PET scan demonstrated no signs of cancer. In this article, the authors discuss the poly activity of ALA: as an agent that reduces oxidative stress, its ability to stabilize NF(k)B, its ability to stimulate pro-oxidant apoptosic activity, and its discriminative ability to discourage the proliferation of malignant cells. In addition, the ability of lowdose naltrexone to modulate an endogenous immune response is discussed. This is the second article published on the ALA/N protocol and the authors believe the protocol warrants clinical trial.

PMID: 20042414 [PubMed - in process]


UPDATE - May 2013 - OGF info in Pancreatic Cancer -
Newer info show that LDN itself might not be effective with PC as reported -

An explanation from Jayne Crocker -

For pancreatic cancer it is a methylation problem. I know there are some physicians who believe one way of getting around this is to give LDN to patients at night (to build up the OGF receptors) and then inject them with OGF in the day. Whether this is any more effective for pancreatic cancer than just taking OGF directly remains to be seen.


Everyone who has a chronic disease has HPA axis issues, so we are all likely to have reduced receptors. The HPA axis is skewed by the chronic sickness syndrome, which results in a weakened immune response (<10 a="" advanced="" ago="" all="" also="" amp="" and="" but="" cancer="" carcinoma="" cell="" characteristic="" chronic="" defect="" degrades="" discovered="" dr="" endorphin="" f="" has="" head="" i="" important="" in="" is="" it="" know="" loss="" mclaughlin="" nbsp="" neck="" normal="" not="" number="" of="" ogf="" posted="" rather="" receptor.="" receptor="" receptors="" remember="" s="" sickness="" specifically="" squamous="" stages="" study="" that="" the="" too="" we="" while="" work="" you="">
This is why LDN is so important in the sense that it builds up the receptors which is what increases the production of endorphins really. There are many cells in the body that produce endorphins, even T cells produce endorphins heavily during an inflammation. So if LDN drives up the OGF receptors, then it reverses one of the HPA axis problems when skewed. Adrenal Fatigue is one possible symptom when the HPA axis gets skewed.

If you are in a position to consider taking OGF directly (rather than count on LDN’s rebound effect to gain from this), I would strongly recommend trying this. Unfortunately it costs about $1,000/month so I’m not sure if this is a possibility.


OGF is Opioid Growth Factor which is the good endorphin that we all count on to benefit from taking LDN. However if there is no OGF receptor present, LDN will not be an effective treatment. If you bypass LDN, and go straight to taking OGF, this may help.

The reason LDN struggles with being effective for those with pancreatic cancer, is because the pancreas when diagnosed with cancer is unable to metabolize LDN. The problem is, when the body tries to make OGF in the pancreas, it can’t. When taking OGF directly, this works because your body doesn’t need to make it, ie metabolize it, it’s already a finished product. This effect is not possible by just taking LDN. So by taking OGF you are bypassing the problem. Please see the below email from Dr Zagon:

About 20 years ago we did an experiment with LDN and OGF as to pancreatic cancer. Amazingly to us, LDN had no effect and OGF was terrific. This was the first time we had ever seen that LDN did not work.

Well, it turns out later that while investigating pancreatic cancer, a number of researchers (not us) found that the body has a methylation of OGF precursors - called preproenkephalin. Methylation of preproenkephalin does not allow the full division of the larger preproenkephalin molecule into smaller peptides such as met-enkephalin (OGF). The bottom line is that pancreatic cancer cells do not have access to making OGF. So, if LDN works by increasing OGF (and its receptor OGFr) which can come together when LDN is no longer present - and this would normally have a super reaction by inhibiting cell proliferation, then in pancreatic cancer LDN is not going to work. It cannot upregulate - increase- OGF. As OGF is not present.

Should you wish to learn more about OGF, check out the LDNScience website http://www.ldnscience.org/opioid-growth-factor-ogf/how-does-ogf-work

But note the word methylation - perhaps Dr. Berkson's success with PC was due to the use of IV Lipoic Acid, along with other supplements - his protocol does increase methylation.

PubMed abstract on OGF and PC:

Opioid growth factor improves clinical benefit and survival in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Smith JP, Bingaman SI, Mauger DT, Harvey HH, Demers LM, Zagon IS.

Department of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA.

BACKGROUND:

Advanced pancreatic cancer carries the poorest prognosis of all gastrointestinal malignancies. Once the tumor has spread beyond the margins of the pancreas, chemotherapy is the major treatment modality offered to patients; however, chemotherapy does not significantly improve survival.

OBJECTIVE:

Opioid growth factor (OGF; [Met(5)]-enkephalin) is a natural peptide that has been shown to inhibit growth of pancreatic cancer in cell culture and in nude mice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of OGF biotherapy on subjects with advanced pancreatic cancer who failed chemotherapy.

METHODS:

In a prospective phase II open-labeled clinical trial, 24 subjects who failed standard chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer were treated weekly with OGF 250 µg/kg intravenously. Outcomes measured included clinical benefit, tumor response by radiographic imaging, quality of life, and survival.

RESULTS:

Clinical benefit response was experienced by 53% of OGF-treated patients compared to historical controls of 23.8% and 4.8% for gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), respectively. Of the subjects surviving more than eight weeks, 62% showed either a decrease or stabilization in tumor size by computed tomography. The median survival time for OGF-treated patients was three times that of untreated patients (65.5 versus 21 days, p < 0.001). No adverse effects on hematologic or chemistry parameters were noted, and quality of life surveys suggested improvement with OGF.

LIMITATIONS:

Measurements other than survival were not allowed in control patients, and clinical benefit comparisons were made to historical controls.

CONCLUSION:

OGF biotherapy improves the clinical benefit and prolongs survival in patients with pancreatic cancer by stabilizing disease or slowing progression. The effects of OGF did not adversely alter patient quality of life. The use of OGF biotherapy at earlier stages of disease or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents may further improve the outcome of this malignancy.

PMCID: PMC2947031 Free PMC Article

PMID: 20890374 [PubMed]

 

Even though I have provided these links in an older post, "Dr. Berkson & LDN" , these videos have just been made available and contain crucial information that might save countless numbers of people. His successful treatment of a patient with pancreatic cancer will be published in December, along with 2 other cases.
Introductory remarks - ALA - Hepatitis C

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHyUfHqR4PA


Pet Scans - Treatment Protocol - ALA Explanation - Pancreatic Cancer with Mets to Liver (case to be published in December)

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy65UGsVMac

Pancreatic Cancer with Mets to Liver - Hepatitis C with Liver Cancer -

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRf8Xuqhb5Q

RA with Lymphoma from Humira - B Cell Lymphoma - Breast Cancer - Rheumatoid Disorders - Dermatomyositis -

4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXz3VIuyHHk

RA - SLE (Lupus) -

5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nttilGKpJvU


ALA and purity; Asian products vs European - ALA discussion - Epstein-Barr Virus -

6) Dr Berkson Q & A Part One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsBN78Cl1s4
Lab Tests - Dosing of LDN and ALA - R Form Lipoic Acid - B Complex -

7) Dr Berkson Q & A Part Two:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c29DAE4MGmo

Pancreatic Cancer & Thoughts on Treatment - ALA Gene Expression - Misc.

8) Dr. Berkson Q & A Part Three:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYxzDuKAdfI

http://www.drberkson.com/