Why Precision Peptides Are a Game-Changer in Cancer Therapy and Prevention
By Dr. Nathan Goodyear, Medical Director — Brio Medical
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and simply put, the “war on cancer” is not working. According to the National Cancer Institute, 1 in 2 men will be affected by cancer in their lifetime, and 1 in 3 women. And with recent research showing that the risk for cancer is dramatically on the rise in the younger population, many physicians believe these numbers will only continue to increase.
Unless the medical field finds a way to radically change its approach to cancer treatment, people will continue to die from this terrible disease. Thankfully, innovations in precision peptide therapy for cancer have shown great promise.
How conventional medical therapies are proving ineffective
The contemporary medical field is still frighteningly attached to the “magic bullet” theory of medical treatment, even though this approach has largely been disproved. Those who truly wish to innovate in the medical field are rejecting these archaic yet still commonly-held beliefs. Instead, they are taking a more personalized approach to medicine that emphasizes the patient's wellness, rather than targeting diseases such as cancer, and destroying the body along with them.
Indeed, many practitioners in the medical world are beginning to turn toward more holistic and integrative forms of therapy. The foundation behind these forms of medicine is that the individual systems of the body work together to support the whole, meaning these systems must work in balance and harmony for the patient to remain healthy.
Out of the holistic medicine movement has come an innovative new approach to disease treatment: multiomics. Multiomics combines the analysis of the body’s different “omes” — genomics, exomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and immunomodulomics — to create treatments that are de-compartmentalized and specific to the individual patient.
Precision peptides as a cancer treatment
Although the use of precision peptides in cancer treatment might seem like a novel approach, it is rooted in practices used in medicine for a century now. It’s important to understand that peptides are nothing more than small proteins, and the body uses them for a large range of purposes.
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Perhaps the most recognizable peptide is the first to be used on a massive scale — insulin, which plays a pivotal role in the regulation of blood sugar levels — which was brought to market in 1923. Now, the integrative medicine movement is beginning to recognize the potential that peptides have in treating diseases such as cancer.
Unfortunately, as is the case with so many medical treatments, mass-market peptides are an example of a “one-size-fits-all” approach to medicine. Thus, researchers and practitioners who are innovating the use of peptides in cancer treatment are looking toward precision peptides. As the name implies, precision peptides are small protein chains customized to the patient’s unique needs.
Although each cancer type may have the same name, the cells and immune dysfunction of the cancer will be different. Precision peptides are designed specifically to address these unique abnormalities.
Restoring the body to health and harmony
Most cancer treatments seek to destroy or obstruct cancer cells, but therapy using precision peptides promotes optimal physiological function. To achieve this, precision peptides use hormone mimetics, homeostasis, and balance to bring all the body’s systems together and allow them to function together. Precision peptides can be used in cancer treatment for various purposes, such as targeting the tumor microenvironment, targeting cancer signaling pathways, or improving transmembrane delivery of therapeutic agents.
Ultimately, the easiest way to describe the difference between precision peptide therapy and other cancer therapies is that precision peptides do not go to war on the body, but help bring the body into balance and restore function. Many negative effects of cancer treatments like chemotherapy are side effects of this aggressive, attack-like approach, which also affects the rest of the body. Since precision peptide therapy focuses on healing rather than destruction, this unintentional destruction of the rest of the body is eliminated.
Some patients may even choose to pursue precision peptide therapy in addition to other forms of treatment, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Precision peptide therapy is safe to use in conjunction with other cancer treatments, and in some cases, can even help that patient live a better quality of life. Since precision peptide therapy is focused on healing, it could help some patients whose immune systems have been ravaged by more aggressive forms of treatment restore balance to their bodies and feel better as a whole.
Although some patients have achieved the desired result of “no evidence of disease” using conventional cancer treatments, the question remains: at what cost does it come? The future of cancer therapy is, therefore, a treatment that is less invasive and seeks not to destroy, but to restore the body. Precision peptide therapy leads the way in that category.
