The best selling book "How to Starve Cancer" inspired us to take the many steps needed to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying our breast cancer diagnoses.

Visit Jane McLelland’s website to find her online learning support groups and online courses.

Our breast cancer pathways are based on the ground-breaking work of Douglas Hanahan, PhD and Robert A. Weinburg, PhD, whose landmark 2000 paper and subsequent 2011 update outlined the Hallmarks of Cancer, eight biological capabilities acquired during the multi-step development of human tumours as well as introducing other important concepts related to tumour progression. Hanahan further expanded this concept in his 2014 paper “Rethinking the War on Cancer”.

You’ll find the auto-fill format and many information changes from previous versions. We have broadened the scope to include concepts from the original Hallmarks of Cancer paper and its 2011 update.

Here we present a systematic framework for breast cancer survivors and their clinicians to help organize their current protocol of off-label drugs and supplements based on a summary of available evidence. Cancer is complex, and many of the pathways affect and occur under multiple hallmarks, though we have placed each pathway under one hallmark for simplicity. This is not an exhaustive list of available evidence as many research studies are being added to PubMed and others have yet to be discovered.

The worksheet is organized into a set of pages, each representing one of the Hallmarks of Cancer, along with a resources page to further your understanding of the research on integrative approaches to breast cancer treatment.

These pages are:

• Manipulate Signaling
• Dysregulate Metabolism
• Invade/Metastasize
• Evade Immune System
• Achieve Immortality
• Avoid Death
• Eliminate Cancer Stem Cells
• Resources

The information provided here is not meant to be prescriptive but rather serve as a guide to help you and your integrative cancer practitioner work within the context of your standard-of-care oncology protocol. The worksheet summarizes research available in the public database PubMed. The strength of the evidence varies for each pathway and substance. In many cases, only in vitro (cells studied in the lab) evidence is available and the effects in humans are unknown.

We encourage users to seek out help from an integrative cancer practitioner to put the research into the context of clinical experience and help you create the best protocol for your individual situation.

Some herbs or nutrients may affect the bioavailability or side effects of certain drugs because of P450 enzyme interactions. This should be discussed with your integrative cancer practitioner.

Most of the information summarized in the worksheet comes from pre-clinical research, meaning not verified in humans.

Because of the lack of financial incentives, human research into the off-label drugs and supplements presented here is rare.

In practice, integrative cancer practitioners use off-label drugs, supplements, and therapies within their comprehensive protocols, in a clinical setting, to improve the effectiveness of conventional treatments.

The practitioners and researchers whose books, presentations, and research articles support the use of these concepts in clinical practice include, but are not limited to, the following (in no particular order) :
Neil McKinney, ND, Keith Block, MD, Daniel Thomas, M.D, Brian Lawenda, MD, Donnie Yance, MH, CN, RH (AHG), Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO, Dwight McKee, MD, Gurdev Parmar, ND, FABNO, Jason Miller, DACM, LAc, Nalini Chilkov, OMD, LAc, Tina Kaczor, ND, FABNO, Kristin Wohlschlagel RN, Walter Longo, PhD, Dominic D’Agostino, PhD, Daniel Thomas, DO, and Dr Nasha Winters, FABNO