7
Reassessing the causes of cancer

This page provides online resources relating to Chapter 7 of Quantum Biology: A Glimpse into the Future of Medicine. Read a chapter extract, or scroll down to access figures and terminology, additional resources published by The Guy Foundation, and a list of further reading.

Name of the Chapter

Subheading

All biological systems require a continuous energy supply to maintain their internal stability. They are also incredibly complex and need to be controlled and ordered. Electromagnetism seems to satisfy the necessary conditions for fast responses across a range of scales and the notion is supported by observations that the electromagnetic properties of cells and tissues are central to the ways they grow, develop different characteristics and organise themselves.

This approach is known as quantum field theory because it is based on the hypothesis that it is not genetics, but disruption to the body’s electromagnetic fields, which cause changes in the way cells grow and ultimately in the way that cancers take hold. Field theory sees cancer as originating with tissue regulation rather than cell mutation. These same fields may also provide new opportunities for the detection and treatment of cancer.

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Cancer Meeting Proceedings

Quantum Biology and Cancer

January 2024

Cancer is one of the world’s primary causes of mortality. While progress has been made in understanding and treating cancer, there is still much to be learnt. The Guy Foundation thus coconvened a meeting with Cancer Research Horizons. The purpose of the meeting was to collectively consider whether there are particular areas at the intersection of quantum and cancer biology that would warrant further investigation. This involved a look at the general principles behind the effects that electromagnetic radiation, including photobiomodulation, and electric fields have on cancer cells, and expanding this to include the effects of magnetic fields.

Read the proceedings here.

2022 Spring Series Proceedings

From quantum bench to bedside: Realising the potential of quantum biology in medicine

June 2022

In the 2022 Spring Series the Foundation considers how quantum biology research might be translated into advancing medicine. The programme includes talks on quantum biology research as well as talks that give various perspectives, insights and examples of bringing new therapeutics to practice. As well as building on our knowledge of the science, we hope these lectures will help us think about the steps that are needed for quantum biology research to lead to new therapeutics and advances in medicine.

Find out more, or read the proceedings here.

Videos

The Guy Foundation 2022 Spring Series

Electromagnetic fields and cancer and the therapeutic perspective.

Dr Jan Pokorný, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Professor Steve Wedge, Newcastle University and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Newcastle Drug Discovery Unit

Also visit The Guy Foundation YouTube Channel Mitochondria Playlist

Mitochondria are double membrane-bound organelles found in most eukaryotic cells. They are thought to have evolved from bacteria. Electron transport chains in mitochondrial membranes generate proton gradients that drive the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), whose energy-rich bonds fuel most cellular processes. It was thought their primary purpose was purely respiration, which is the process of extracting energy via electron transport from food to oxygen. However, they are now known to be key in generating precursor molecules for growth and suppression of oxidative stress, as well as acting as signalling hubs via ROS and calcium manipulation, and they play key roles in immunity and inflammation, and thus ageing.

See the Playlist.

Muneer Abbas and Philip Kurian, ‘Quantum probes in cancer research’, Nature Reviews Cancer 22 (2022), doi.org/10.1038/s41568-022-00465-2

David S. Baskin, Martyn A. Sharpe, Lisa Nguyen and Santosh A. Helekar, ‘Case report: end-stage recurrent glioblastoma treated with a new noninvasive non-contact oncomagnetic device’, Frontiers in Oncology 11 (2021), doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.708017

P. M. Biava, F. Burigana, R. Germano et al., ‘Stem cell differentiation stage factors and their role in triggering symmetry breaking processes during cancer development: a quantum field theory model for reprogramming cancer cells to healthy phenotypes’, Current Medicinal Chemistry 26:6 (2019), doi.org/10.2174/0929867324666170920142609

Joao Carvalho, ‘A bioelectric model of carcinogenesis, including propagation of cell membrane depolarization and reversal therapies’, Scientific Reports 11 (2021), doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92951-0

Lya G. Hernández, Harry van Steeg, Mirjam Luijten and Jan van Benthem, ‘Mechanisms of non-genotoxic carcinogens and importance of a weight of evidence approach’, Mutation Research 682:2–3 (2009), doi.org/10.1016/j.mrrev.2009.07.002

Morgan D. Kuczler, Athen M. Olseen, Kenneth J. Pienta and Sarah R. Amend, ‘ROS-induced cell cycle arrest as a mechanism of resistance in polyaneuploid cancer cells (PACCs)’, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 165 (2021), doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.05.002

P. Kurian and C. Verzegnassi, ‘Chirality-energy conversion induced by static magnetic effects on free electrons in quantum field theory’, Journal of Physics Communications 2:11 (2018), doi.org/10.1088/2399-6528/aae876

Michael Levin, ‘Bioelectrical approaches to cancer as a problem of the scaling of the cellular self’, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 165 (2021), doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.04.007

Angela Mally and James Kevin Chipman, ‘Non-genotoxic carcinogens: early effects on gap junctions, cell proliferation and apoptosis in the rat’, Toxicology 180:3 (2002), doi.org/10.1016/S0300-483X(02)00393-1

Noemi Monti, Roberto Verna, Aurora Piombarolo et al., ‘Paradoxical behavior of oncogenes undermines the somatic mutation theory’, Biomolecules 12:5 (2022), doi.org/10.3390/biom12050662

B. S. Oppenheimer, E.T. Oppenheimer, A. P. Stout and I. Danishefsky, ‘Malignant tumors resulting from embedding plastics in rodents’, Science 118 (1953), doi.org/10.1126/science.118.3063.305

Jiří Pokorný, Jan Pokorný and Jitka Kobilková, ‘Postulates on electromagnetic activity in biological systems and cancer’, Integrative Biology 5:12 (2013), doi.org/10.1039/C3IB40166A

Martyn A. Sharpe, David S. Baskin, Kumar Pichumani, Omkar B. Ijare and Santosh A. Helekar, ‘Rotating magnetic fields inhibit mitochondrial respiration, promote oxidative stress and produce loss of mitochondrial integrity in cancer cells’, Frontiers in Oncology 11 (2021), doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.768758

David L. Vaux, ‘In defense of the somatic mutation theory of cancer’, BioEssays 33:5 (2011), doi.org/10.1002/bies.201100022

Rogier Versteeg, ‘Tumours outside the mutation box’, Nature 506 (2014), doi.org/10.1038/nature13061

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7Reassessing the causes of cancer

7
Reassessing the causes of cancer