Most HIV-positive patients die of cancer. In the latest issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[8]: 117), Manfred Hensel’s research group presents epidemiological data.
The authors surveyed all German hospital outpatient clinics and ambulatory care centers specializing in the treatment of HIV patients in the period from 2000 to 2007 and were thus able to analyze the largest collection of data on the incidence of cancer in HIV patients ever assembled in Germany. It first became clear in the early 1980s that HIV infection is associated with malignancies. Kaposi sarcoma, cervical cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma were found particularly often in immune-deficient populations. These “Aids-defining” tumors have since become less frequent, but other types of cancer such as anal carcinoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung cancer, and skin cancer are coming to the fore. Because most patients infected with HIV die of these malignancies, the authors recommend tumor screening for HIV-positive persons.
New book urges use of antidepressants to treat and prevent cancer
“Killing Cancer” by Dr. Julian Lieb reviews medical research showing that antidepressants have potent anticancer properties.
BURLINGTON, Vt.
More than 120 clinical, laboratory and epidemiological studies illuminate the anticancer properties of antidepressants. Antidepressants kill cancer cells, inhibit their proliferation, protect nonmalignant cells from damage by ionizing radiation and chemotherapy toxicity, convert multidrug resistant cells to sensitive, and target the mitochondria of cancer cells while sparing those of healthy ones. Depression significantly increases the risk of cancer, and increases and accelerates its mortality. Antidepressants are capable of arresting cancer even in advanced stages, and occasionally eradicating it. Published reports to date reveal that antidepressants are potentially effective, among others, for such treatment resistant malignancies as cancer of the lungs, kidneys, and liver, malignant gliomas of the brain, and inflammatory breast cancer. Lieb points out that the use of relatively inexpensive antidepressants could make cancer treatment available to low-income and disadvantaged segments of the population. By slashing the cost of cancer care, antidepressants could energize health reform and economic recovery.
“Great advances seldom emanate from ivory tower medical schools or government health agencies,” Lieb says. “They are often made by outsiders that draw together observations whose relationship to each other had never been suspected.”
In making the case for antidepressants, Lieb discusses prostaglandins, molecules that regulate the physiology of every cell in the body. When produced above a critical threshold, prostaglandins can cause many disorders including depression and cancer. By inhibiting the production of prostaglandins, antidepressants can defeat cancer. Cancer is not a hundred different diseases, as touted, but one disease with innumerable variations.
“Killing Cancer” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.
About the Author
Dr. Julian Lieb is a retired Yale School of Medicine professor and author or co-author of 48 published articles and 11 books, Lieb is a recognized expert on the immunostimulating and antimicrobial properties of lithium and antidepressants, and the anticancer properties of antidepressants. He has worked closely with pioneers in prostaglandin research, and has been invited to address international cancer conferences in Greece, Germany and India.
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For educational purposes only. Treatment decisions to be made with a physician.