Why do a third of us get cancer during our lives while the rest of us do not? The question has long attracted researchers. It’s possible that we all have the potential to play host to the tumors—but we certainly all have bodies designed to prevent them from proliferating. Why do our immune systems sometimes fail us?
Once cancer gets a foothold, our bodies are at siege. Healthy and unhealthy cells go head to head to establish sovereignty. But research has shown that it may be more possible to turn the tide than we think.
If our immune systems mount an offensive, if our bodies fail to create the inflammation needed for the tumors to expand and colonize new territories or if the blood vessels stop reproducing, that spells “Game Over” before tumors can develop.
One study that offers a glimpse into the future of cancer research took place at Wake Forest University in North Carolina in the lab of biology professor Zheng Cui, who discovered a strain of cancer-proof mice. Even when these mice were injected with billions of virulent cancer cells, they remained tumor free.
How was that possible? After extensive experimenting, Zheng and his colleagues discovered that explanation was hidden inside the mice’s white blood cells, including natural killer (NK) cells, which were unusually powerful and able to defeat the cancer cells.
Like the cells of the resistant mice, human NK cells can kill different types of cancer cells, and studies with humans delivered similar conclusions: The less active the NK and other white blood cells are under the microscope, the more rapid the cancer’s progress, the more it spreads throughout the body in the form of metastases and the lower the chances of survival a decade year later. Lively immune cells seem essential to countering the growth and spread of cancer.
Studies on the activity of immune cells show they’re at their best when our diets are healthy, our environment is “clean” and our physical activity involves the body, not just our brains and hands. Immune cells are also sensitive to our emotions. They react positively to states in which joy and feelings of connection with those around us predominate.
Cancer is a fascinating phenomenon. It borrows its disturbing intelligence from our vital functions to corrupt them and turn them against themselves. Studies have revealed how this corruption operates. Whether it’s generating inflammation or fabricating blood vessels, cancer imitates our basic aptitude for regeneration, while aiming for the opposite outcome. It’s the reverse of health, the negative of our vitality.
But it’s vulnerable in ways our immune system knows naturally how to exploit. At the outposts of our defense system, our immune cells—including our NK cells—represent a powerful chemical armada that constantly nips cancers in the bud.
The facts bear out this conclusion; Everything that strengthens our immune cells impedes the growth of cancers. All in all, by stimulating our immune cells, fighting inflammation (with nutrition, physical exercise and emotional balance) and opposing angiogenesis—the development of new blood vessels—we undercut cancer’s spread. Acting in tandem with strictly conventional medical approaches, we can enhance our body’s resources. The “price” is to lead a more fully conscious, more balanced and beautiful life.
This is a description of a book excerpt that appeared in the November 2008 issue of The Intelligent Optimist. Members can read the full article here. Non-members can become a member here.
