Cancer Science & Therapy

Like all other great Prophets (as) of Allah (God), statements of the Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam are divinely inspired. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) never spoke a single lie in his lifetime. Whatever he spoke was under divine inspiration. Concerning his statements and utterances Allah says in the Qur'an:

“He does not speak anything on his own. It is but a Revelation which is sent down to him” (An-Najm 53:3-4).

“And if Muhammad had made up about Us some [false] sayings, we would have seized him by the right hand; then We would have cut from him the aorta” (Al-Haqqah, 69: 44-46).

So, traditions of the Prophet (PBUH) on healing are also true, which modern science proves through research after 14 centuries. Although the Prophet’s mission was neither as a physician or pharmacist, he was inspired by God to make nearly 1000 statements on healing for the benefit of humankind because man needs to remain well free from sickness to fulfill his brief mission on earth. About Nigella sativa Abu Hurayrah (ra) narrates that the Prophet (PBUH) said:

"Hold on (use this seed regularly)! Because it is a remedy (cure) for every disease except death." (Bukhari, Muslim)

This amazing statement of the Prophet (PBUH) generated tremendous interest among the world scientific community, which finally led them to carry out extensive biological and phytochemical investigations on the plant seed. However, the researchers after carrying out hundreds of studies in various countries finally concluded that black seed can effectively cure 129 different types of ailments including 17 types of cancers. This large number of diseases curable by black seed demonstrates the authenticity of the Prophet’s statement.

In this paper the learned readers will be informed about the beneficial pharmacological effects of Nigella sativa in the treatment of most human ailments as well as the findings of modern scientific researches on how Prophetic chemo isolated from Nigella sativa can effectively cure numerous cancers without any side effects.

Objective: To determine whether valsartan would be useful in attenuating Adriamycin/Cyclophosphamide/ Herceptin (ACH)-induced cardiotoxicity and to assess the role of biomarkers as indicators of cardiotoxicity in patients with breast cancer undergoing cancer therapy.
Background: Valsartan is indicated to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization in patients with chronic heart disease. The administration of cancer drugs, in particular (ACH) is associated with increased risk of cardiotoxicity. The use of herceptin improves survival of women with early-stage positive human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) breast cancer but also adds substantially to cost, toxicity, and inconvenience. Little is known about the potential role of valsartan in the prevention of ACH-mediated cardiotoxicity and the predictive role of biomarkers.
Method: A total of 60 untreated HER-2 positive breast cancer patients (ages 24 –70 yr, mean 56 yr) were enrolled in this study and were divided to two groups. Group 1 and 2 had 30 patients each, and group 1 received ACH plus valsartan, group 2 received ACH alone. HER2- positive patients were recruited at the Cancer Therapy Center in Najaf, Iraq. Ejection fraction % (EF%), cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were measured at baseline and at six months after ACH administration.
Results: Chemotherapy induced significant transient increase in EF%, cTnI, and hsCRP compared to baseline values (P < 0.001). Within one week after valsartan treatment, all these increases returned back to nearly normal levels. Notably, valsartan administration caused a significant decrease in cTnI and hsCRP values compared to baseline (P < 0.001) and it improved EF% value.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that prophylactic administration of valsartan resulted in the partial attenuation of cardiotoxicity caused by chemotherapy which was characterized by the improvement of EF% and in lowering serum level of cTnI and hsCRP.

New cancer markers have been discovered in the form of male and female oncogene peptide protein and its anti-peptide antibodies. They were found in both salvia and blood samples of females with breast cancer and males with prostate cancer, in a pilot study for fifteen married patients having cancer in advanced-stage and their Husbands and Wives. Ten females, their age ranging from 32 to 58 for breast cancer (group A), five males for prostate cancer their age ranging from 54 to 71 years (group B), and four normal persons [two male and two female], their age ranging from 23 to 34 years] (as control group), were recruited into a controlled study to investigate the presence of the new suspected oncogene peptide proteins and their specific anti-oncogene antibodies in their blood and saliva. Tumour markers, C.T scan, ultrasound, and mammogram reports were completely collected before the study for each subject in the three groups. The collection data revealed the presence of male oncogene peptide protein [MOP] in serum and saliva samples of male Husbands in group A and its specific anti-oncogene antibodies [AMOP] in the serum samples of each female affected with breast cancer in group A, and the presence of female oncogene peptide protein [FOP] in all five female Wives and its specific anti-oncogene antibodies [AFOP] in each male affected with prostate cancer in group B, and the differences between normal controls and cancer patients were estimated by different in vitro and in vivo experimental trails. Our conclusions showed that a direct relation exists between the increases in concentration levels of OPP and its AOAbs, and the stage of malignancy. These promising results can open the doors for a new challenge, by developing a therapeutic and prophylactic cancer vaccine as well as new biological markers for breast and prostate cancer.

Purpose: To link pretreatment tumor infiltrating T-lymphocytes (TILs) (CD8+, CD4+, FOXP3+) and systemic neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) to different clinical/pathological elements. Consequently, emphasizing their impact in predicting the outcome in definitively treated cervical cancer patients.

Methods: The most relevant clinical/pathological factors were used to establish a link with pre-treatment NLR and densities of TILs (CD8+, CD4+, FOXP3+) in cervical biopsies. The predictive significance of pre-treatment TILs and NLR, both for disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using Log rank alongside Cox regression analysis.

Results: Radical hysterectomies followed by adjuvant radiation with or without chemotherapy were offered to 28 patients, while the remaining twenty eligible patients received curative concurrent chemo-radiation. Augmented levels of CD8+, CD8+/CD4+, while reduced levels of FOXP33+ and NLR were linked to node negative, radical hysterectomies and early stages. Cox-regression demonstrated that augmented levels for NLR and nodal disease were individually correlated to dismal prognosis with HR 3.06 (95%confidence interval [CI], 3.45-9.24), 5.63 (95% CI, 2.61-9.32) for OS and (HR 8.21 (95% CI, 4.21-16.53) and 5.32 (95% CI, 2.37-10.24)for DFS, respectively. On the contrary, FOXP3+≥19 and CD8+/CD4+< 2 had a substantial link to reduced OS (HR 4.37(95% CI, 2.48-12.37), 2.31(95% CI, 2.34-9.32) and worsened DFS (HR 3.61 ( 95% CI , 1.38-9.32), 4.32(95%CI, 3.12-8.34).

Conclusion: The pretreatment NLR, CD8+, FOXP3+and C8+/CD4+showed a substantial link to various clinical/pathological prognostic characteristics for curatively treated cervical cancer patients. Furthermore, the prognostic prospective of the tested indicators could be emphasized.

Introduction: Although gastric cancer incidence has decreased worldwide, it’ s still the fifth most frequent malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer related mortality. Many prognostic factors have been identified as indicators of gastric cancer prognosis including tumour size, depth, lymph nodes metastasis and microvascular involvement. To date the clinical significance of tumoral markers remains unclear. In our study we would like to investigate the prognostic survival significance of preoperative CEA and CA19.9.
Material and Methods: From January 2004 to September 2016, a total of 326 gastric cancer patients were analysed. Of these 260 were enrolled in the study. The two serum tumour markers CEA and CA19.9 were detected within 7 days before surgery. The normal cut off value for serum CEA was 5 ng/ml whereas for CA19.9 was 35 U/ ml. Patients were also dichotomized according to CEA and CA19.9 median value (respectively 2 ng/ml and 9 U/ml).
Results: Our results suggest that the optimal application of these common tumour markers could promote the clinical screening and staging of gastric cancer patients. Their evaluation is cheap and easy, allowing a routinely use to identify patients at high risk of death or post-surgical recurrences. Also, we could utilize the optimal cut-off value of CA19.9 for individualizing patients with an early stage but a very bad prognosis.
Discussion and Conclusion: We conclude that the combined assessment of CA19.9 and CEA levels could have prognostic value in gastric cancer in particular to identify patients with a poor prognosis after radical surgery, who need an aggressive follow-up and medical treatment.

We present the case of a 38-year-old female with a locally advanced recto-sigmoid adenocarcinoma. Preoperative CT scan showed that the tumour is closely related to the left psoas muscle, with total encasement of the left ureter, causing Grade II left sided hydronephrosis. Exploration was done, and an extended left hemicolectomy, with en-bloc resection of a segment of about 6 cm from the left ureter was performed. After trying to approximate both cut ends, it was clear from the start that they will not reach, and a bridge would be needed to reconstruct the ureter.