Dr. Weeks Comment: Yes. Sad to say, good people can get cancer of the eye.
How can this happen? Well, cancer is always related to depleted oxygen (remember Otto Warburg and his 1931 Nobel prize) in cells and the insulting cause could be anything that creates low oxygen (hypoxemia) such as a toxic exposure to chemicals or excessive light exposure or trauma but regardless what insulted the eye, the destructive biochemical process is inflammation.
The 4 most important words for ANYONE with ANY cancer are “Cancer Spreads by Inflammation“. We know this about all cancers, and since metastasis is an inflammatory process, to stop cancer from spreading you need safe but powerful systemic anti-inflammatory agents.
The main treatment for uveal (ocular) melanoma is powerful (but dangerous) anti-inflammatory agent in the steroid class or, more recently and rationally immunotherapy. But the cornerstone is safe and effective anti-inflammatory agents which are not immunosuppressive and which are not dangerous to you liver (like Tylenol) or your kidney (like Celebrex) or you blood coagulation (like aspirin). Here below is more on the role of inflammation and eye cancer.
Eye (Lond). 2013 Feb; 27(2): 217–223. 10.1038/eye.2012.253 PMCID: PMC3574253PMID: 23238448
Inflammation in uveal melanoma
I H G Bronkhorst1 and M J Jager1,*
The link between inflammation and cancer
Inflammation is so prevalent in malignant neoplasms that it is widely regarded as one of the hallmarks of cancer.1, 2 Why does this happen? What does inflammation do? Are cancers suppressed or stimulated by the immune response? Can immunity be harnessed to be deployed as a therapeutic tool? How relevant is tumour immunology to uveal melanoma?
For many years, it was assumed that inflammatory cells in cancers reflected antitumour responses. Thanks to advances in identifying different cell subtypes, however, there is growing evidence that inflammation has an important role in the initiation phase of malignancy as well as influencing tumour progression. Inflammation can contribute to angiogenesis, metastasis, antitumour immune responses, and reactions to chemotherapeutic agents.
The seventh hallmark of cancer is defined as cancer-related inflammation, which is characterized by leukocyte infiltration and the presence of soluble mediators, such as cytokines and chemokines.3 One would expect that the infiltration of leukocytes into tumours would lead to tumour cell elimination before the tumour becomes clinically apparent; however, this is often not the case. One of the major obstacles may be local immune suppression within the tumour microenvironment.4 Immune cells that are able to kill tumour cells in vitro can be inhibited in vivo from killing the malignancy.
In this article, we summarize the current knowledge on inflammation in uveal melanoma, also discussing the scope for further research. Particular emphasis is placed on the characterization of the inflammatory microenvironment. (For the entire article CLICK HERE)
Common sense tells us that cancer grows in favorable environments and, in the case of ocular or uveal melanoma, that environment is loaded with INFLAMMATORY cytokines -not only as a host response to fight the cancer but as part of the causative, hypoxemic microenvironment. Read the following abstract:
J Innate Immun. 2012;4(5-6):454-62. doi: 10.1159/000334576. Epub 2012 Feb
Uveal melanoma: the inflammatory microenvironment.
1Department of Ophthalmology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Abstract
“Uveal melanoma is a highly malignant intraocular tumor with quite homogeneous tumor tissue and a diffuse leukocytic infiltration. In contrast with many other malignancies, the presence of infiltrating macrophages and T cells is associated with a poor prognosis rather than a good one. The clear link between inflammation and cancer in this malignancy provides a paradigm for macrophage plasticity and function. Macrophages in uveal melanoma have an M2-like phenotype and are associated with the loss of one specific chromosome – monosomy 3. The central players involved in this process and discussed in this review include macrophages, T lymphocytes, chemokines and cytokines, including the macrophage-attraction molecules. When a tumor acquires the ability to release significant amounts of macrophage-attraction molecules it causes the expansion of a population of myeloid immature cells that may not only help the tumor to suppress immune reactions but also aid in the construction of new blood vessels for tumor growth. A better understanding of the molecular basis of a local myelomonocytic cell population will bring a better understanding of the immunopathology of this disease and will lead to therapeutic interventions in uveal melanoma. This review focuses on the roles of the local inflammatory microenvironment in the development and progression of uveal melanoma.”
SO…. What to do? Well, any farmer would tell you that when the tree or crop is sick, one must treat the soil. So too with cancer – treat the whole body. What to offer someone with eye cancer? The same Corrective Cancer Care™ protocols as for any cancer: 1) Mind your state of mind (dispel fear while being strategic, feel gratitude and appreciation), 2) Rehydrate with pure water (no chloride or fluoride), 3) regular interval exercise to oxygenate the blood, 4) the low carbo ketogenic diet which is also an 5) anti-inflammatory diet utilizing, in particular, anti-inflammatory seeds to actively transport oxygen into the cells. Why seeds? Because seeds are the most nutrient food on earth (20-30x more nutrient dense than its parent fruit or vegetable) and anti-inflammatory seeds are able to penetrate and be bioavailable because of their unadulterated, non-rancid omega 6 oils. Oncologist Arnold Leonard at U. Minn. formulated a drink made from the three most powerful anti-inflammatory seeds which many people with myriad cancer find very helpful. What is the side-effect of this powerful anti-inflammatory drink? Good nutrition.