New results from a multi-center, phase II 18 months clinical trial on the effects of modified citrus pectin (MCP) in prostate cancer were just presented at the 14th European Multidisciplinary Congress on Urological Cancers (EMUC22), November 10-13 2022 in Budapest Hungary.
Led by Dr. Daniel Keizman at Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, and involving multiple oncology centers throughout Israel, these long-term results demonstrate the clear benefit of MCP treatment in prostate cancer patients with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer. Clinical data continue to demonstrate that taking 15 grams of MCP daily stabilizes PSA and reduces disease progression, without toxicity or side effects.
Initial results showing benefits at 6 months of treatment were published in December 2021 in the journal, Nutrients.1 These results showed that after 6 months, 78% of participants benefited from the use of MCP and had either stabilized PSA levels, or increased PSA doubling time (PSADT) with no disease progression shown on imaging scans. PSADT is an important indicator of how fast prostate cancer is progressing and is often used to measure how well a patient is responding to treatment. The longer the doubling time, the slower the PSA rise, indicating that treatment is working, and that the cancer growth has slowed or stopped.
After 6 months, the 46 patients that benefited from MCP in the initial 6 months continued to the additional 12-month treatment phase. 7 patients preferred to continue to purchase the product out of pocket and withdrew from the study. Of the remaining 39 patients, after another 12 months of treatment, 85% (n=33) had a positive long-term response with a decreased or stabilized PSA in 62% (n=24), and/or improvement of PSADT in 90% (n=35), and with negative scans. Median PSADT improved significantly. No patients developed toxicity or side effects.
The Need for Non-Hormonal Prostate Cancer Therapies
It’s estimated that close to 250,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year in the US. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, aside from non-melanoma skin cancer. In fact, prostate cancer and prostate conditions are in many cases considered a normal part of aging for men. Approximately 70% of men over age 80 show some form of cancer activity in their prostate. While many of these cases are benign or non-threatening, prostate cancer can also become aggressive, fast-moving and deadly. Over 30,000 men die annually of this disease in the US.
Many conventional as well as natural therapies for prostate cancer rely on hormonal interventions to bring down testosterone levels, called “androgen deprivation therapy”. This class of hormonal therapies may work initially, but they also come with significant side effects. Hormonal therapy can change the hormonal receptor expression of prostate cancer, resulting in a more aggressive prostate cancer that no longer responds to ADT. Finding non-hormonal therapies that are safe and effective, and don’t interfere with the body’s hormonal signaling is especially critical for many prostate cancer patients, regardless of the severity of their disease.
This ongoing MCP study demonstrates the long-term clinical benefits of researched MCP in the treatment of BRPC and other forms of prostate cancer. With 90% of subjects experiencing clinical benefit compared to baseline, and without the use of hormonal mechanisms, MCP is showing promise as a safe and effective adjunct therapy in the management of prostate cancer, with additional clinical research warranted.
As the last author of the study, demonstrating that 90% of patients benefited from the long-term use of MCP represents a pivotal milestone in my work with MCP over the last 27 years. This is now the third published clinical trial paper highlighting modified citrus pectin as an effective therapy for prostate cancer, with the ability to halt prostate tumor growth and metastasis, stabilize PSA, and increase PSADT. With over 76 published studies in total, and more in the pipeline, this form of MCP is earning recognition among researchers and medical professionals as a safe and effective therapy for prostate cancer, as well as many other cancers.
As published data continues to emerge on MCP, patients and health providers can be confident that this is one of the most important daily supplements for protecting and promoting long-term health and defending against today’s most serious health concerns.
Sources:
(1) Keizman D, Frenkel M, Peer A, Kushnir I, Rosenbaum E, Sarid D, Leibovitch I, Mano R, Yossepowitch O, Margel D, Wolf I, Geva R, Dresler H, Rouvinov K, Rapoport N, Eliaz I. Modified Citrus Pectin Treatment in Non-Metastatic Biochemically Relapsed Prostate Cancer: Results of a Prospective Phase II Study. Nutrients. 2021; 13(12):4295. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13124295
(2) Garcia-Revilla J, Deierborg T, Venero JL, Boza-Serrano A. Hyperinflammation and Fibrosis in Severe COVID-19 Patients: Galectin-3, a Target Molecule to Consider. Front Immunol. 2020 Aug 18;11:2069.
(3) Eliaz I, Raz A. Pleiotropic Effects of Modified Citrus Pectin. Nutrients. 2019 Nov 1;11(11):2619.
(4) Caniglia JL, Asuthkar S, Tsung AJ, Guda MR, Velpula KK. Immunopathology of galectin-3: an increasingly promising target in
