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Cancers and DHEA
DHEA has been found to improve function and to have significant anti-cancer
and anti-tumor effects.
DHEA owes many of its
beneficial properties to fight cancer due to its ability to inhibit an
enzyme called glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). DHEA's
cardioprotective properties may also be partly due to G6PD inhibition.
Cervical cancer
Initial research reports that the use of intravaginal DHEA may be safe
and may promote regression of low-grade cervical lesions. Patients should
not substitute the use of DHEA for more established therapies, and they
should discuss management options and follow-up with a primary healthcare
professional or gynecologist.
Clinical Studies
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In long-term study of
5,000 women it was found that DHEA levels fell drastically up to nine
years before the development of breast cancer. The highest risk factor for
cancer was low levels of DHEA. DHEA has been shown to enhance immunity,
prevent cancer, and prolong life in laboratory animals.
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Nine
healthy elderly men with an average age of 64 years took 50 mg nightly of
DHEA for 20 weeks. DHEA treatment significantly elevated natural killer
cells. These are lymphocytes that are involved in searching out and
destroying not only viruses, but abnormal cells that are on their way to
turning cancerous. Although the number of T lymphocytes was unaffected, T
cell function was increased (as measured by an increased proliferative
response to phytohemagglutinin,
a chemical that normally stimulates T
cells). B cell function was also increased.
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Sahelian chronicles a study that was conducted on mice and rats. In this
experiment, DHEA was shown to inhibit the development of experimental
tumors of the
liver, breast, lung, colon, skin lymphatic tissue and other bodily
tissues.
Among pregnant rats implanted with a cancer-causing agent, 96
percent of the controls developed mammary (breast) tumors. Mice that were
supplemented with DHEA but that otherwise received the same cancer-causing
treatment had only a 35 percent incidence of mammary tumors. Dr. Inano, a
Japanese researcher, concluded, "These findings suggest that DHEA has a
potent preventive activity against the promotion/progression phase of
radiation-induced mammary tumorigenesis."
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DHEA
lowers cancer enzyme Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehyrogenase (G6PD). British
women having 10% less DHEA than that expected for their age group,
developed and died from
breast cancer,
predicted by low urine DHEA tested 9 years prior; inhibits lung tumors
from urethane and 1,2 dimethylbenz-anthracene, skin
cancers (100
mg./ day), blocks colon tumors in mice from
carcinogen
1,2-dimethylhydrazine, inhibits
prostate cancer,
and testicle tumors in rodents.
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One
study showed that patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) had
significantly decreased levels of DHEA compared to healthy controls. This
has led some doctors to speculate that DHEA might be beneficial in
treating this form of leukemia because DHEA has already been shown
effective in treating leukemia.
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Other
cancer studies show DHEA inhibits cancer cell thymidine incorporation
needed for cellular propagation and disrupts the oxidizing effects of
chemical carcinogens. Scientists point out that DHEA functions not as an
antioxidant, but as a modulator of the effects of chemical carcinogens on
cells.
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A
human clinical study of 129 advanced
cancer patients
on 40 mg of DHEA per day found that while there wasn't significant
regression of the cancer, two patients with renal cancer stabilized their
conditions and tolerated the DHEA therapy without side effects for two and
a half years. And according to Regelson and Kalimi, DHEA may be our bestagent for blocking stress-mediated support of tumor growth.
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