Ivermectin can "kill cancer cells" and boost immune response, suggest health experts
By zoeysky // 2024-03-29
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Ivermectin was used as an alternative treatment amid the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and now researchers are saying that the drug can also help fight cancer by boosting immune response. Rick Alderson, a retired sawmill worker, was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer in November 2020. He endured agonizing pain in his bowels for months. After a consultation, a gastroenterologist discovered a large tumor in his rectum. Alderson and his wife were told that he only had six months to live. Eve Alderson, Rick's wife, said that his oncologist saw him as "a dead man walking." Other doctors were against starting Alderson on treatment because of his age and the severity of his cancer, but the couple didn't want to give up. Alderson started with 10 rounds of radiation therapy. Initially, his carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a marker for tumor activity, was significantly elevated at 480 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). One month later, he started chemotherapy. After that, his CEA levels skyrocketed to 1,498 ng/mL. By the time Alderson started treatment, his colon cancer had metastasized and spread to his liver. The latter had 25 tumors. In an interview with The Cancer Box, a cancer diagnosis blog, Alderson shared that he started researching preventative medication, which led him to ivermectin. Further research suggested that ivermectin could likely enhance the effectiveness of his chemotherapy and radiation therapy, with data also showing that the medication was relatively safe. In February 2021, Alderson started taking ivermectin. Ten days later, his CEA levels had gone down to 184 ng/mL. By April 7, it was 20.7, and by April 21, it had dropped to only 13.9 ng/mL. By midsummer, Alderson's CEA levels had decreased into the normal range. Out of the 25 tumors in his liver, only three remained. (Related: FDA is NOT a physician: Appeals court sides with doctors on the use of ivermectin for COVID-19.) Alderson lived for two more blessed years before succumbing to liver failure due to the progression of his three remaining liver tumors. His wife was grateful, adding that his survival beyond his grim prognosis was because of his success with ivermectin and fluorouracil, a chemotherapy drug.

Ivermectin has several anti-cancer effects

Dr. Alfonso Dueñas-González, an oncologist and senior researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, explained that there are at least nine "perfectly defined cancer targets affected by ivermectin." The first reports of ivermectin’s anti-cancer properties were released in 1995. At the time, two French researchers discovered that the Nobel Prize-winning anti-parasite drug ivermectin could reverse multidrug resistance in tumors. Ivermectin targets tumor stem cells, a driver of cancer tumors and relapses, and promotes cancer death. The drug was also found to boost the effects of chemo and radiation therapy. Ivermectin has a broad impact on the immune system, particularly boosting immune offense against cancers. Additionally, it inhibits cancer cell cycles, helping prevent the formation of new cancer cells. Ivermectin also promotes the killing of cancer cells by inducing mitochondrial stress. It also helps prevent cancer survival by preventing new blood vessels that transport energy and fuel to cancers from forming near cancer cells. Even though several studies have shown that ivermectin has impressive potential as an anti-cancer drug, only a handful of clinical studies have examined the use of ivermectin for cancer. In a Japanese study, scientists observed three patients with different cancers, breast, bone and lung cancer, who were taking a combination of ivermectin and other drugs, including an anti-cancer hormonal therapy. Ivermectin was added last in the therapeutic combination for two of the patients. Their doctors observed considerable improvements in their symptoms. After ivermectin was added, the study authors reported that "all the symptoms were relieved" in one patient. As for the other patient, he was prescribed ivermectin with other drugs. After one treatment cycle, he was well enough to walk to the clinic by himself.

Ivermectin may help boost immunity

Dr. Peter P. Lee, the chair of immuno-oncology at the City of Hope, is also a leading researcher in the U.S. on ivermectin as an immunotherapeutic drug for cancer. Conventional anti-cancer therapeutics like chemotherapy and radiation therapy focus on damaging the DNA of cancer cells and killing them. Unfortunately, these treatments also kill a patient's immune cells and suppress their immune system. Immunotherapy, on the other hand, is a relatively new form of anti-cancer therapy that enhances the body's immune system to fight cancer. And even though some immunotherapies have broad immune-strengthening effects, the most commonly used ones only focus on a specific subset of the immune system. According to Lee, ivermectin can kill cancer cells and drive the host immune response, or immunogenic cell death (ICD). Lee's research revealed that when animal subjects mice with breast cancer were given ivermectin, immune cells would begin to appear in tumors that previously had none. This process is known as turning "cold" tumors "hot." He explained that patients with hot tumors have "better clinical outcomes with a lower risk for recurrence and live longer." But during the course of the study, tumors continued to grow in mice given ivermectin alone, suggesting that the drug alone is not enough. Lee suggested that ivermectin could work well with immune checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD1, an immunotherapy drug. After the mice were injected with cancer cells again, the animals whose tumors were cleared after this combination therapy no longer formed new tumors. Lee clarified that only ivermectin and pembrolizumab together could completely clear out metastasis and that the former might not be as effective as a stand-alone treatment.

Researchers are studying ivermectin as therapy for different cancer types

Dr. Lee's team has started a clinical trial of ivermectin combined with immunotherapy for women with metastatic breast cancer. The researchers have also discovered that ivermectin was effective against other types of cancer cells, suggesting that additional patients may participate in future trials. The interaction of the two therapies could be due to "a highly complex process dependent on timing, dosage and drug combinations." Lee said that ivermectin could be "a very powerful drug in the context of really carefully developed immunotherapy combinations." Dr. Kathleen Ruddy, a breast cancer surgeon who trained at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, started studying ivermectin after three patients she consulted with experienced a notable improvement in their condition after taking the drug with other adjunctive therapeutics. The first patient had stage 4 prostate cancer. The cancer came on abruptly, and after trying all possible treatments within nine months, his doctors announced that he only had three weeks left to live. The first patient started taking ivermectin with other nutraceuticals. Within two months, his prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a potential marker for prostate tumor, became insignificant. After six months, the patient's metastatic lesions started to disappear. In less than one year, Ruddy reported that the first patient was well enough to go dancing for hours three nights a week. The same was observed in the two other patients. Ruddy, who has been a cancer surgeon for over 30 years, was impressed because she had never observed this in one patient, let alone three in succession. There are also doctors who have been treating cancer using ivermectin, with varying degrees of success. Dr. Duenas-Gonzalez, a doctor based in Mexico, has prescribed ivermectin at his private clinic. He said that many of his patients also received chemotherapy treatments and that some saw reductions in their tumor marks after they were given ivermectin. According to Ruddy, ivermectin has had some degree of anti-cancer effect in every cancer type it has been tested on. Findings from Duenas-Gonzalez's research have suggested that at least 26 different cancer cell lines, including bladder, breast, colon, esophageal, glioblastoma, kidney, liver, lungs, lymphoma, ovarian, pancreas, prostate, stomach and uterus, respond to ivermectin in laboratory studies. Visit IvermectinScience.com for more stories about the potential benefits of ivermectin. Watch the video below to learn more about the doctor who sued the FDA for ivermectin misinformation. This video is from the True Conservative Minutes channel on Brighteon.com.

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