Is increased Cancer Risk With Old Age Due to Immune System Decline?

What is the reason for the observed increase in most cancers with advancing age? The main theory that has been out there for about fifty years is that the accumulation of mutations, when in the “cancer driving”, genes leads to a cell becoming cancerous. It then takes a number of years for that one cell to become a tumour big enough to either cause symptoms or to be detected. The old theory, called the power law model, states that mutations in genes that drive the transformation is the ultimate reason for cancer incidences.

But biology and cancer aren’t that simple. In reality, there are many factors that can lead to formation of cancer. Oncogenes are genes that if they are turned on, they will lead to formation of cancerous cells. These genes are usually embryonic and are “on” for a short period during development and then they shut off. If they don’t or are turned back on later in life for some reason, the cancer can be initiated. There is also inflammation that if unchecked can lead to cancer. But most important in my mind, even before I ever got introduced to Chinese medicine, is the belief that it’s the immune system that keeps getting rid of cancer cells that develop before they can take form a tumour, providing that its working right. So is that the reason why incidence of cancer goes up as we age and the immune system become weaker? There is also an increase in incidence of infectious diseases with increasing age and decreasing immune system. So the authors led by Thea Newman, PhD, set out to test their observation.

First lets consider what happens to the immune cells over time that makes the immune system weaker than its earlier days: the immune cells that are responsible for recognizing and removing a pathogen, or destroying a cancer cell when they find one, recognize only that one antigen or marker. If that particular clone of immune cells dies, the ability to fight that one infection or pathogenic fragment diminishes. As we get older an immune cell may die. When the antigen comes up, there is no clone to recognize it! Result is the infection or the cell with genetic mutation goes undetected.

As the immune system declines, its harder to fight infections and its harder to fight oncogenesis.
Acupuncture and herbal medicine have had the importance of the proper functioning of the immune system for good health and longevity at the center of their theories for thousands of years. When I was working in an immunology lab studying cancer and autoimmune disease, I remember a day when I came across a chapter in a book that talked about how many antibody (large proteins that are composed of four chains coming together just right for proper function) molecules are produced in the golgi of a cell per second: 3000!! 3000 times four chains and they all come together just right, in fractions of a millisecond, for decades, without making a mistake!! ??  I was certain mistakes in DNA reading and protein assemblyI knew right then that it’s the immune system that keeps cancer from popping up all the time and all over the place. That was in 95.

My specialty is immune system enhancement using acupuncture and herbs and I have worked on numerous cancer survivors as well as clients that are undergoing chemo or have recently completed their chemo or radiation schedules. What can I do for you?