werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (06/25/85)
Ever since the Laetrile debate erupted in net.med, I have been wondering just exactly why anyone ever thought it would work in the first place. (I mean, there must have been some reason, along the way.) Well, I finally found it in a 2000-page book on Oncology (the study of cancer), so I thought I'd pass it on: Laetrile, also called Amydgalin, also called D-mandelonitrile-Beta-D- Glucoside-6-Beta-D-Glucoside (quite a mouthful) is found in apricot pits, almonds, apples, cherries, peaches, and pears. It was first isolated chemically in 1830, and first synthesized in 1924. In 1935, it's degradation by acid into a molecule of Benzaldehyde (a cellular poison), a molecule of Cyanide, and 2 glucose molecules was first described, and an Enzyme group was described in Rabbits that was linked very well with the onset of Cyanotic symptoms and death by asphyxia. In the late 1940s, E.T. Krebs (no relation to the discoverer of the biochemically important Krebs cycle) first proposed the Medical use of Laetrile to treat cancer, based on its poisonous properties. At the time, one theory of cancer was the so-called 'Trophoblastic Theory of Malignancy' or 'Unitarian Theory of the Origin of Neoplasms,' which held that cancer cells were misguided embryonic cells that became lost in the body and waited like time bombs to erupt into cancer. [This is absolutely wrong, and I'll discuss this below.] It was further held that Tumor cells were more suseptible to Laetrile's action because they had higher levels of the enzyme (called Beta-Glucosidase) which releases the deadly Cyanide within the cells, and had lower levels of the Enzyme (called Rhodaneses as a group) that could get rid of it. Now: this was proposed in the forties. It wasn't until the early 50s that DNA was unequivocally shown to be the genetic material, and it wasn't until 1953, when Watson and Crick, solved the Double Helix, that a mechanism of genetic inheritance was understood. It wasn't possible until the late 60s and into the 70s, with the advent of something called Radioimmunoassay, that it was possible to measure the concentrations of enzymes in intact cells. It wasn't until the late 70s that techniques in cytology (the study of cells) were advanced enough to determine where cells had their immediate ancestry. So it has only been within the last ten to fifteen years that the evidence has been unequivocally compiled to show that Cancer cells derive from Normal Cells in the same tissue (and not from Rogue cells). Incidentally, the enzyme levels between cancer cells and normal cells for the Laetrile-dependent enzymes are identical. (Oh incidentally, in cell-culture, Laetrile will slow down the growth of cancer cells, but only at Cyanide levels that are 100X the known fatal dose in humans.) So there you have it, the entire rationale for why Laetrile should work is without basis, but let me go on. The first clinical trial done by Laetrile supporters was in 1953. Or, I should say, was reviewed by the California Cancer Commision in 1953. Of 44 patients that supposedly had gone into Remission following Laetrile treatment, all but one had subsequently died by the time of the commision review. Concerning the one survivor, they found it was unable to confirm the original diagnosis by biopsy, so it was doubtful that that person had ever had cancer. Now, having 43 of 44 patients die is not exactly a promising treatment, and I think it a not too controversial finding that the commission found Laetrile was, at best, a very poor anticancer treatment. Now that I have : 1. Shown that the rationale behind Laetrile treatment is erroneous and 2. It doesn't work as advertised when studied. I hope that no one on the net will ever even consider that it is a useful treatment for Cancer, and will kindly pass on this information about the uselessness of Laetrile to all their friends. Source: Oncology, Ch.49 Unproven Methods of Cancer Treatment, p. 1878-1887. (I will gladly send a photocopy of this chapter - albeit for the cost of postage and photocopying - Laetrile is 3 pages, all is 10, 10 cents a page, plus a stamp, Craig Werner, 1935-14E Eastchester Rd. Bronx NY 10461) -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "The world is just a straight man for you sometimes"