When you see vehicles on the road, you just think of normal transportation, but in a kid’s imagination, they are powerful robots in disguise — that’s because Transformers have been a major cultural phenomenon, capturing the minds of generations of kids ever since the first Transformer toys were put on the market in 1984. Since then, they have become one of the most popular toys in history, expanding into comic books, video games, and movies.
Transformers are so named because they appear to be one thing (usually a vehicle of some sort) that can become a robot war machine. They don’t transform instantly; rather, one piece at a time moves into a new position until the entire appearance has changed. These changes seem believable because each step in the transformation can be observed. And they can be reversed so the robot can transform back into a car, truck, or other vehicle — back to its benign existence.
Changing from one thing into another isn’t limited to fanciful toys — it is normal in all life. Caterpillars turn into butterflies. Seeds become plants. Life is in a constant state of change. But like the Transformer toys, change happens only in the presence of some effort or force being applied. The child manipulates the toy to change it. Life changes in response to forces around it.
The child’s world can be very small. Transformer toys can completely fill that world during playtime, while the real world gets ignored. Cells in your body are likewise preoccupied with their immediate environment, not caring about what is happening elsewhere. What surrounds them, plus what signals that they get from nearby cells, are their world. This is their “microenvironment”, their world, their existence. Were it not for the signals that they receive from other parts of the body, they would be entirely preoccupied with their immediate surroundings.
So to best understand cells and how they react, we want to consider their little world from their view. Stress or calm, anger or love — these are only represented to them by biochemical and bioelectrical signals. Those signals are the only contact with their outside world, so the cells pay close attention to them. They are the forces that cause the cells to react, and to change their behavior. Normally the signals are interpreted in a standard, predictable fashion meant to coordinate their function so that the cells are all working together for the common good of the whole body. If they misinterpret signals, havoc ensues.
Research is revealing just how important the microenvironment, the little world surrounding the cell is, and how it can change how cells interpret the signals that they receive. When that microenvironment is good, the cells are working in concert and the whole body functions properly. But when it is bad, cells get agitated and upset. When conditions are bad enough, they may rebel against the normal order and look for a better (in their view) way to handle their troubled microenvironment. They may go rogue, and establish a new order. But since they have such a small, limited view of the world, the are quite capable of creating an inferior order which can lead to their ultimate downfall, along with the whole body. This is cancer — the shortsighted answer to a bad microenvironment. The transformation to cancer doesn’t happen all at once, but in stages, which medical science simply calls “pre-cancer.” Those stages don’t have to play out all fully to cancer though, because any stage can be interrupted or reversed. The transformation can go either way.
The tumor microenvironment
The world from the point of view of a cancer cell is complex. A tumor is a colony of different types of cells: tumor cells, supportive tissue, blood vessels, inflammatory immune cells, and a variety of tissue cells. The chemicals and signals that these cells receive and produce compose the environment within the tumor, which highly favors cancer and not the original tissue from which the tumor originated. Some of the cells within that colony are coaxed normal cells which are now helping the tumor development — this is particularly true of immune system cells.
The immune system initially tries to interfere with the development of the tumor. It sends in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). But all cells are driven by signals that they receive from other cells and the environment, and these infiltrating cells start to listen to directives from the tumor cells. Soon they are standing guard against other immune killer cells which would attack the cancer. Tumor-derived antigens (TAs), like any antigen, are considered foreign invaders requiring an immune response, and dendritic cells (DCs) carry the antigens to T-cells which then promote regulatory T-cell (Treg) production, which are special T-cells that suppress further immune response — these are important in preventing autoimmunity. In essence, they are signaling “it’s OK, we’re all friends here, don’t attack” to the body’s immune system.
So we have a self-perpetuating cycle. As the tumor develops, it makes its own internal environment that further favors cancer stem cells and is hostile to normal cells. Those normal cells that are in the tumor are coaxed to help the cancer stem cells develop further.
This process is explained in a review article published in Oncogene by researchers at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine and The Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburg, PA. The process is summed up this way: “It is a unique environment that emerges in the course of tumor progression as a result of its interactions with the host. It is created by and at all times shaped and dominated by the tumor, which orchestrates molecular and cellular events taking place in surrounding tissues.” The specific microenvironment that develops is unique to each tumor, but basically is an acidic, low oxygen, high sugar environment which cancer loves. Cancer makes itself at home.
Here come the transformers
The tumor is not only creating the ideal environment to multiply cancer cells — it is also setting up the right conditions to create cancer stem cells (CSCs). Normally, stem cells in an adult lie dormant, waiting until needed for repairing and replacing damaged tissue. Although most stem cells are concentrated in the bone marrow, some are found throughout the body. When tissue is damaged, inflammation sets in to begin the healing and repair process. This process is supposed to be temporary, restoring the tissue and shutting down the inflammation because it is no longer needed. But a tumor appears to the body as a wound that will not heal. This just promotes the inflammation cycle, calling for the immune system and stem cells to respond continually to this “wound.”
Worse than the continuing inflammation cycle is what happens to the stem cells when they meet chronic inflammation: their normal metabolic pathways and their responses to intra-cellular signaling changes. The changes make them turn into cancer stem cells — they “go over to the dark side.” Like all cancer cells, they are corrupted normal cells, except that they have the powerful characteristics of stem cells: they are pluripotent. “Pluri” is a prefix meaning “multiple”, and stem cells have the ability to transform to multiple specialized cell types. Normal stem cells are very hardy, like seeds ready to start new life. CSCs are also very hardy, and are prepared to bring forth new life, except that the new life they produce is cancer cells instead of new healthy tissue.
The wound healing microenvironment is dangerously close to that of a tumor, if maintained. This was demonstrated in research at Okayama University in Japan, published in the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Research. They took pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and under a simulated chronic inflammatory environment they were able to cause the PSCs to become CSCs. They observed a multi-step process: first, the chronic inflammatory microenvironment disrupted tissue homeostasis for a long period; second the cells in that shifted homeostasis changed their phenotypes (their observable traits, showing epigenetic changes resulting in new behavior ) to act more like cancer; and third, eventually an actual cancer stem cell would develop, multiply, and start creating the full-on inflammatory microenvironment needed to cause the PSCs to switch to CSCs continually. Essentially, they were able to simulate and observe the creating of the tumor microenvironment and the coaxing of normal stem cells to cancer stem cells.
It’s one thing to theorize that chronic inflammation opens the door to cancer, but the impact of actually causing this cascade effect with actual cells provides solid evidence. Cancer doesn’t happen all at once. It requires the stage to be set first, then the transformers (PSCs changing to CSCs) appear. That stage requires inflammation to make the transformation. Whereas to heal, to be in optimum health, inflammation must go. When it does, the cancer loses its special environment.
Where a tumor has developed, you can bank on cancer stem cells being there also. They are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. So your best defense is to cool inflammation, and to do so with diet, lifestyle and behavior modifications now!
Dr. Nemec’s Review
So here’s how it happens. First you must have inflammation and toxicity in the body. This produces bioelectric signals and biochemical messages to all the cells in the body. If this inflammation and toxicity is chronic because the messages and signals are chronically saying “there is a fire here, there’s a problem here: this area needs attention and needs it now”; if these messages continue days, weeks, months — then that chronic inflammation sets forth a change in the body. It sees the environment like a wound that won’t heal so those same signals and messages finally transform pluripotent stem cells, which are the root of all your healthy cells in every gland, organ and tissue. These messages change the normal stem cells into cancer stem cells. The only reason this occurs is because the body has no other choice but to react to the chronic inflammation by trying to produce a new type of stem cell that will survive in a new type of environment that the body was never designed to be in. That is chronic inflammation.
Your body was never meant for chronic inflammation. Let’s look to the animals animals in the wild: they get inflammation, but because their consciousness, their diet, their lifestyle, their exercise patterns do not promote an inflammatory environment then the inflammation they experience is acute or short term, so they will not transform normal pluripotent stem cells into cancer stem cells.
What are the other differences between a zebra and you? There are many. First and most important is the zebra lives in the moment: it does not have subconscious and conscious stress programs stored on the hard drive of its brain, it doesn’t have a consciousness to think on the wrong thoughts, to meditate on fear and doubt; it only knows when it’s on the plain eating its grass, if it senses danger — not fear — but danger of a potential lion attack, then it simply stops eating and runs until the sense of danger is gone. Then it does the most beautiful thing of all, which if human beings could do this, they would heal. The zebra goes back and starts eating grass again. It does not think, “I wonder if the lion is going to get me in an hour. I wonder if he’s waiting for me around the next corner. I’m so afraid the lion is going to be somewhere in my future because it definitely was in my past.” No, the zebra does not have consciousness like human beings have, he has no future or past consciousness — so all the zebra knows is when he’s done running at that moment, he senses no danger, so it’s clear to go back to what he was doing before, which was eating his meal, totally relaxed, and digesting his meal because he’s living in the moment.
This is the basis of how we have treated patients for the last 40 years with our Revolution New Medicine Protocol®. We address all the signals that change the environment to become inflammatory. We address the subconscious, which is most important; the conscious, which is second most important; the diet, which is third most important — along with all the lifestyle changes to make the correct signals to all the cells and to produce an anti-inflammatory environment long-term. This is called longevity. This is called health in body, mind, and spirit.
To finish up: the Japanese study makes it undeniable. Cancer stem cells, which is the root of all cancer, simply come from a chronic inflammatory environment that surrounds pluripotent stem cells. This inflammatory environment and signaling transforms the normal stem cell into the cancer stem cell — end of story, seen in the laboratory, documented, and reproducible. So remember, if you ever get diagnosed with cancer, all the chemotherapy in the world, all the radiation in the world, all the surgery in the world, and all the immunotherapy in the world is not going to change the inflammatory signaling and environment that was first and foremost caused by the subconscious stress programs developed earlier in your life and the conscious stress programs that have occurred throughout your life. These conventional therapies are not going to change your diet, your lifestyle, or any other factor that causes the cancer in the first place: they are just going to make a more inflammatory and a more toxic environment to stimulate more production of cancer stem cells, which just go out and produce new colonies of cancer cells throughout the body. How can you ever get well and stay well with a conventional protocol alone?
Here are the ways we can help you in your health journey:
- Outpatient Comprehensive Teaching and Treatment Program-has the most benefit of teaching, treatment, live classes and personalized coaching. This program has the most contact with Dr. Nemec with 3- 6 month programs that can be turned into a regular checking and support program for life. This is our core program that has helped so many restore their health and maintain that restoration for years.
- Inpatient Comprehensive Teaching and Treatment Program-is our four-week intensive inpatient program for those that are not in driving distance, usually over 4 hour drive. This is the program that is an intensive jumpstart with treatment, teaching, live classes and coaching designed for all our international patients along with those in the US that do not live in Illinois. This program is very effective especially when combined with our new membership program support.
- Stay at Home Program-is offered to continental US patients who cannot come to Total Health Institute but still want a more personal, customized plan to restore their health. This program also includes our Learn Membership Program.
- Membership Program is our newest program offered for those that want to work on their health at a high level and want access to the teaching at Total Health Institute along with the Forums: both Dr. Nemec’s posts and other members posting. And also, to have the chance to get personalized questions answered on the conference calls which are all archived in case you miss the call. The Membership Program has 3 levels to choose from: Learn, Overcome and Master. The difference is at the Overcome and Master levels you received one on one calls with Dr. Nemec personalizing your program for your areas of focus.
