Tetrathiomolybdate (TM) is used in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease due to an overload of copper, and has been applied in the complementary treatment of metastatic cancers. Tetrathiomolybdate is the active pharmaceutical agent in a well-tolerated drug that has shown activity for the treatment of Wilson disease and now is in phase II clinical trials as an anti-cancer drug.

Recently, a research by the Northwestern University has provided a rational on the activity of its activity. Copper  is an important cofactor for tumor angiogenesis, the process of growing new blood vessels to feed the tumor. Researchers believe this is why tetrathiomolybdate has shown promise as an anti-cancer drug.

TM binds to copper-loaded metallochaperones. The drug sequesters the chaperone and its bound copper, preventing both from carrying out their normal functions in the cell. The drug brings three copper chaperones into close quarters, weaving them together through an intricate metal-sulfur cluster in a manner that essentially shuts down the copper ferrying system. The biological activity of tetrathiomolybdate does not arise from a simple copper sequestering action but through a disruption of key protein-protein interactions important in human copper metabolism.

For patients with certain cancers whose initial growth is helped by copper-dependent angiogenesis, TM could be a very useful therapeutic aid.

The study has been considered important and it will be published in Science Express Nov. 26.

By itself, metformin was ineffective in treating tumors. In a one-two punch, metformin reduced tumors faster and prolonged remission in mice longer than chemotherapy alone, apparently by targeting cancer stem cells, report Harvard Medical School researchers in the Sept. 14 advance online Cancer Research.

...The once-weekly injection of minute amounts of Gc-MAF, just 100 nanograms (billionths of a gram), activates macrophages and allows the immune system to pursue cancer cells with vigor, sufficient to produce total long-term cures in humans..."

In the last issue of Translational Oncology (2009, 2, pp. 138-145) a report appeared confirming that cellular bioenergetics is a central issue of investigation in cancer biology.

DCA is in clinical trials and results are expected with great interest. Meanwhile stories can be heard from people, even read on the internet, that tell us that they or their relatives have benefited from using DCA against cancer expecially when combining it with other treatments.

The benefits of alcohol are all about moderation. Low to moderate drinking - especially of red wine - appears to reduce all causes of mortality, while too much drinking causes multiple organ damage. A mini-review of recent findings on red wine's polyphenols, particularly one called resveratrol, will be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research; the review is also available at Early View.

In summary, current scientific research is starting to explain reports from the last 200 years that drinking red wine improves health. "It is a cliché that 'nature is a treasure trove of compounds,' but studies with resveratrol show that this is correct! We need to understand better the vast array of compounds that exist in nature, and determine their potential benefits to health."

Red wine contains a complex mixture of bioactive compounds, including flavonols, monomeric and polymeric flavan-3-ols, highly colored anthocyanins, as well as phenolic acids and the stilbene polyphenol, resveratrol. Brown said that some of these compounds, particularly resveratrol, appear to have health benefits.

The breadth of benefits is remarkable - cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity, and many more.

Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer chemoprevention as well as cardioprotection.

Resveratrol may aid in the prevention of age-related disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

The simplest explanation is that resveratrol turns on the cell's own survival pathways, preventing damage to individual cells, including removing very reactive oxidants in the body and improving blood supply to cells.

Low doses of resveratrol improve cell survival as a mechanism of cardio- and neuro-protection, while high doses increase cell death.

The key difference is probably the result of activation of the sirtuins in the nucleus, low activation reverses age-associated changes, while high activation increases the process of apoptosis or programmed cell death to remove cellular debris. Similar changes are seen with low-dose versus high-dose resveratrol: low-dose resveratrol produces cellular protection and reduces damage, while high-dose resveratrol prevents cancers.

Resveratrol is largely inactivated by the gut or liver before it reaches the blood stream, where it exerts its effects - whatever they may be - good, bad, or indifferent. Thus, most of the reseveratrol in imbibed red wine does not reach the circulation. Interestingly, absorption via the mucous membanes in the mouth can result in up to around 100 times the blood levels, if done slowly rather than simply gulping it down.

Recently patients, writing on the DCA site, have reported that adding green tea extracts to their DCA experimental anticancer regimen gave them benefits in term of cure efficacy.

Cancer is a disease ascribing more that 200 sub-pathologies. Many more anticancer strategies are available both from official or alternative- complementary medicine.

Here we discuss a possible general strategy of intervention, based on biochemical rationals, which we are persuaded could constitute a backbone of a general anticancer treatment.

The Tian Xian are herbal dietary chinese supplements allegedly aiming to control, inhibit and destroy cancer cells. It's function is declared complementary to that of official therapies.