What Is A Cancer Stem Cell?

What is a cancer stem cell and why they need to be destroyed?

 We will answer the question of what a cancer stem cell is and why it is the new frontier in cancer research and therapies for cancer treatment. Let’s start with looking at a historical perspective of whether the field of medicine is helping people heal or are they falling short?

This is the sixth article of a seven-part series by Nathan Goodyear, MD at An Oasis of Healing showing the evidence and scientific studies of high dose IV Vitamin C and its effects on cancer. If you missed the last article, you can go here to read it in full or go here to our blog page and read all the articles in this series.

Functional or Integrative medicine is the new movement in medicine that seeks to identify the root cause(s) of dis-aise for each individual.  This movement is also a return to the roots of what a physician or doctor is—Docēre rāphè.

Words have meaning, and the historical meaning of the words provide perspective for a purpose.  A purpose without a historical perspective is ripe for disaster. Rāphè is the Hebrew root word for physician which can be translated healer or “to heal”.

Docēre is the Latin root word for doctor which can be translated teacher or “to teach”.  What is the historical perspective of a doctor?  Of a physician?  From a historical root perspective, a physician/doctor is one that teaches the body how to heal.

How is medicine doing in this historic mission to teach the body how to heal?  As you might guess, not very good.  Let the evidence speak for itself.

According to data from the American Cancer Society, from 2013 to 2017, the number of deaths from cancer per year has doubled compared to new cases of cancer diagnosed over the same time frame.  Despite all the new technologically advanced drugs and therapies that hit the market between 2013-2017, the diagnosis of cancer in 2017 was more terminal than a cancer diagnosis in 2013. That is an eye-opener and an indictment of the failure of physicians to hold to their historical calling—healers.

Understanding What Cancer Stem Cells Are Is The Key To Health Restoration From Cancer

In the effort to find the root cause(s) of cancer to curb the disproportionate deaths from cancer compared to a diagnosis of cancer, Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) are the new frontier in cancer research and cancer therapy.

Cancer Stem Cells are the ultimate back-up copy for cancer.   As the back-up, CSCs are thought to be the “root cause” of :

• chemotherapy resistance
• radiation therapy resistance
• treatment failure
• tumor recurrence
• metastasis

For those affected by cancer, Cancer Stem Cells may be the difference between winning and losing.  Make no mistake about it, we are all in this fight to win!

What is a Cancer Stem Cell exactly?

In general terms, stem cells are a class of undifferentiated cells that are capable, when signaled, to differentiate or change into specialized cell types.  A lot of medical jargon I know; but specifically, in the case of cancer, Cancer Stem Cells can be used as the ultimate back-up to reproduce the original cancer cells in all of its glory of metabolic dysfunction.

It is the back-up of the worst metabolic kind of dysfunction in cancer instead of the optimal metabolic function of healing cells.  Back-ups are often a good and required task for protection, but in this case, we would rather do without these back-ups.

These Cancer Stem Cell back-ups, if not destroyed, will lead to treatment failure and cancer recurrence. When cancer does recur from these Cancer Stem Cells, it is more aggressive and progressive than the original cancer presentation.

Cancer Stem Cells are a cancers secret weapon.  It is the sequel that nobody wants that delivers in a very bad way.  A cancer treatment strategy that simply involves the primary tumor is out of date.

Every individual in remission or “cancer free” must be assumed to have circulating CSCs. A cancer treatment strategy that meets the historical purpose of a physician/doctor (Docēre rāphè) must include the elimination of the ultimate cancer back-up, CSCs, in the short and long-term.  Only with the target and elimination of CSCs can true healing be achieved.