Cancer Prevention
The key in preventing cancer is time and determination of the potential causes of it. The main known causes of cancer are genetic predisposition, oxidative stress, faulty immune system, low nutrition levels, accumulation of oxidized forms of hormones, as well as exposure to carcinogens, such as toxic metals. Timely management of which may prevent transformation of healthy cells into cancer cells.
The earlier you know that you have a cancer risk or the cancer cells appear in a certain organ, the more effective can be the preventive treatment.
Our approach to patients is holistic, we offer a complete examination by looking at the patient’s genomic and biochemical mark-ups that have led or may lead to disease in the near future. We offer our patients access to the best laboratory diagnostic tests provided by the leading labs and research centers in integrative medicine based in the US and Europe.
We recommend doing regular cancer check-ups, if you meet any of the following criteria:
• you are 30+
• you have had a cancer history in your family
• you have a chronic inflammation process (e.g. gastric inflammation, chronic gynecological diseases, prostatitis, etc.)
• you are doing extreme physical exercises
• you are under a lot of stress, feel burnout
• you live in a polluted environment
• you have taken prolonged antibiotic therapies
• you have been exposed to radiation, chemicals and products known to cause cancer
The frequency, volume and the necessity of a cancer check-up program are determined by our physician, subject to a specific patient situation and his or her health history.
Based on the examination results, our doctors and bio scientists prescribe preventive treatments and therapeutic programs focusing on the problem areas discovered at the time of the check-up.
Each patient is assigned a treating doctor and a dedicated staff, which are available to answer all questions the patient may have 24/7. Cancer prevention programs normally involve regular checks of the progress made.
If you are interested to learn more about the RCLIN’s cancer prevention programs, or schedule an appointment at one of our clinics, please contact us at: rclin@rclin.com
Cancer Detection
In addition to widely available cancer diagnostic methods, RCLIN offers one of the most advanced and powerful tools for cancer detection - the ONCOblot® test.
The ONCOblot® test is a highly sensitive test that identifies 26 different forms of cancer and points to the organ, where cancer has developed. The test can identify cancer before symptoms appear, as well as confirm post treatment effectiveness.
The test is so sensitive, that it can show presence of cancer cells, even before they have been addressed by the immune system. Timely intervention by preventive treatments may help to stop cancer cells from developing into tumors and spreading to other organs.
The ONCOblot® test is a single blood test with the ability to confirm the presence of cancer through the detection of the ENOX2 protein. This protein is produced by the tissue of origin only, which enables the test to identify 26 primary cancers from 20 different organ sites.
The ONCOblot® test has been shown to detect the presence of cancer as early as Stage 0. It is estimated that as few as 2 million cancer cells (2 mm cancer, roughly the size of a pinhead) may shed a sufficient amount of the ENOX2 protein to be detected in blood serum. The ONCOblot® test is a diagnostic test that confirms cancer presence and the tissue of cancer origin at the time of testing. However, the ONCOblot® test does not allow to identify the stage of cancer nor does it show the tumor burden.
Most tests look for elevated levels of normal substances, which might indicate the possibility of a cancer, and some tests look for a genetic predisposition to develop cancer. What makes the ONCOblot® test unique is that it detects the presence of the ENOX2 protein which only exists if malignant cancer is present.
ONCOblot® is a laboratory developed, CLIA Certified, CAP Accredited, blood serum test that meets current FDA guidelines. A 510(k) submission to the FDA is in progress.
RCLIN is the official distributor of ONCOblot® in Europe. To take the ONCOblot® test, the blood is collected at one of our collection centers or taken by your local physician and sent to RCLIN’s lab center in Geneva, Switzerland. The blood is then prepared and shipped to the ONCOblot® lab in West Lafayette, IN, USA.
Normally it takes about 3-4 weeks to get the results.
You may learn more about the ONCOblot® test by visiting the lab’s webpage at : www.oncoblotlabs.com
If you want to ask our medical team about the ONCOblot® test or schedule an appointment at one of our clinics, please contact us at : rclin@rclin.com
Cancer Treatments
There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution in treating cancer. To get the best results, our patients are treated by a global team of the best conventional and integrative oncologists, and benefit from the most advanced diagnostic and intervention tools available to date.
At RCLIN we treat patients in ambulatory centers. When in-patient care is required, we rely on our international network of partner hospitals to provide the best needed care, such as surgeries.
All our clinics operate in the regulatory environment of the countries where they are based. Some of the offered treatments are only available in the countries, where they can be practiced, such as the United States.
Each patient is assigned a treating doctor and a dedicated staff, who are available to answer all questions the patient may have 24/7.
If you want to ask our medical team about specific treatments or schedule an appointment, please contact us at: rclin@rclin.com
Targeted Chemotherapies
Where cancer is already at an advanced stage, RCLIN offers diagnostic testing to help identify the most effective, targeted approach to treatment. Using various diagnostic tools, we identify candidate drug mixes, which could be effectively used for treatment. We also identify which drugs from the approved protocols would not be active against your tumor, as well as drugs that would be toxic for you and whose benefit-cost ratio would be really unfavorable.
Following the test results, our oncologists prepare personalized, targeted chemotherapy protocols that are the most effective to attack the malignant cells and least harmful to healthy ones.
Among the tools, our oncologists use, we would like to highlight the two key methods:
cytometric profiling developed by Dr. Weisenthal and OncoDEEP® test.
Cytometric Profiling
Cytometric profiling, as performed by the Weisenthal Cancer Group, USA, measures the cancer cell killing ability of each drug as it occurs in real-time in the presence of each patient’s own, living cancer cells. In cytometric profiling each patient’s cancer cells actually are exposed to the broadest possible range of candidate chemotherapy drugs, including the new “targeted” agents, accurately identifying both effective and ineffective drugs.
In addition, cytometric profiling identifies widely varying patterns of susceptibility occurring within each patient’s cancer cells to different anti-cancer drugs within the same class of drugs. Oncologists often see differences in patient response to different drugs, which are thought to work via the same general mechanism. In contrast, gene testing looks only at the mechanism and not at the drug or at the cell in the presence of the drug and so it cannot detect specific differences in drug activity.
Cytometric profiling also has the ability to identify synergy, which frequently occurs in rationally-selected drug combinations. Drugs, which are only moderately active as single agents, sometimes become extremely effective when combined with certain other agents. Cytometric profiling can pinpoint these drug combinations - gene testing cannot.
You may learn more about the cytometric profiling by visiting the lab’s webpage at: www.weisenthalcancer.com
OncoDEEP® test
The OncoDEEP® test has been designed to be used on any solid tumor cancer, e.g. lung, breast, colorectal, stomach and liver cancers.
OncoDEEP® not only identifies candidate molecules which could be used for treatment but also finds out which drugs would be active against your tumor and which would not. It also helps to identify which drugs could turn out to be toxic and whose benefit-cost ratio would be really unfavorable.
To take OncoDEEP® test, an oncologist arranges tumor sample collection and shipment to the Institute of Pathology and Genetics (IPG) in Gosselies, Belgium. IPG is one of the 8 Belgian Official Genetic Centers. OncoDEEP® is ISO15189 accredited by BELAC, the Belgian authorities’ accreditation body.
Normally it takes about 2 weeks to get the results.
You may learn more about the OncoDEEP® test by visiting the lab’s webpage at: www.oncodna.com
If you want to ask our medical team about the cytometric profiling or OncoDEEP® test, please contact us at: rclin@rclin.com
Support Therapies
As a patient undergoes cancer treatments, it is extremely important to support the body’s ability to recover and make sure that the negative impact on the healthy organs is minimized.
Our doctors and bio-scientists develop special health support programs that are given to patients undergoing cancer treatments.
This may include detoxification, immune support, hormonal balance support, DNA protection to prevent spreading of cancer cells, as well as other programs specific to each patient’s needs.
Immunotherapy
It is now recognized that the cancer can actually use the immune system to protect itself, thus shutting off the part of the immune system that would attack it. The identification of receptors used by the cancer cell to shut off the immune system, has allowed the development of effective immune therapies.
When these receptors are blocked, the immune system has the opportunity to recognize the cancer and learn to attack it. The main drugs currently available are CTLA-4 inhibitor (Yervoy) and PD-1 inhibitors (Optdivo and Keytruda). The FDA has approved these therapies for Melanoma. Optdivo is also approved for non-small cell lung cancer.
To date, Yervoy, Opdivo and Keytruda have been approved for systemic therapy. This means these medications are given intravenous, thus treating the entire body.
However, research has shown that treatment administered directly into the tumor is far more effective than the systemic treatment of the whole body. It has been proven that the immune dysfunction occurs in the “microenvironment” of the tumor. This work supports that there should be a new paradigm shift in cancer immunotherapy, targeting directly to the tumor.
The problem with most typical cancer therapies is that they “poison” or treat the whole body and they do nothing to teach the body how to fight the cancer in the future. The current treatments are often ineffective in ridding the body of all the cancer. Once the medicines are stopped, or resistance develops, the cancer again progresses. The “key” to cancer therapy is to teach the immune system how to fight the cancer.
Our oncologists noticed that the combination of immunotherapy and cancer ablation works this way. The cancer ablation kills the tumor, leaving dead pieces and releasing substances to stimulate the immune response. The immunotherapy such as Yervoy, Optdivo and Keytruda, takes the brakes off the immune system, allowing it to attack the dead tumor. This trains the immune system to attack the cancer in other locations as well.
Cancer Ablation
Image-guided cancer ablation involves the placement of needles into a tumor, then the tumor is destroyed using extreme heat (microwave or radiofrequency) or extreme cold (cryoablation) to directly kill the cancer. Initially developed in the 1990’s for liver cancer, today it is used in many cancer types and locations.
Research has demonstrated the underlying immune response of ablation. Ablation of cancer can function like a vaccination against the tumor, generating an immune response.
In typical vaccinations, the disease-causing agent is killed or weakened and injected into the body. Ablation results in the killing of tumor within the body, leaving pieces of cancer that can potentially be recognized by the immune system.
Ablation results in tumor destruction inside the body. This results in the release of antigens. Antigens are the pieces of tumor that the immune system can recognize and learn to attack other tumor that contains those similar pieces. In addition, the ablation process results in the local release of other substances, which further enhance the immune response. These substances are known as Pathogen Activated Molecular Patterns (PAMPS) and Danger Activated Molecular Patterns (DAMPS). It is these substances that further set off an alarm to fight against the cancer. When you combine the release of “DAMPS”, “PAMPS” and tumor antigens, along with the immune checkpoint inhibitors (Anti-CTLA 4 and PD-1), you create a near perfect mix of immune stimulation, resulting in a much more powerful anti-cancer immune response. This combination results in stimulating the immune system against the cancer throughout the whole body, in a way that has never been achieved before.
Studies have demonstrated that cancer ablation has the potential to be more effective, than surgery for the treatment of local tumors, however, it is not appropriate for metastatic disease, for which systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, have been the only option for treatment.