A new study found that distal metastases for breast cancer tumors occurs through the action of a molecule called Transforming Growth Factor beta or TGFb. It turns out that when TGFb is expressed, single cells break off of the tumor and can metastasize through the blood stream. However, without TGFb, only chunks of cells can come off the tumor which are too big to get into the blood stream. Thus they travel through the lymphtaics which are much slower and tend to stay local. This is very interesting news and they are now looking into drugs to downregulate TGFb. However, we don’t need to wait to take advantage of this fascinating research because acupuncture and certain herbs like astragalus have already been shown to downregulate TGFb. Steve Gomberg and Brandon Horn published an article in a peer reviewed journal called Alternative Therapies in Women’s Health discussing research on how powerful Chinese herbal medicine can be in fighting breast cancers. With the new information from this study, we now have yet another mechanism by which acupuncture and Chinese herbs can help: in this case, in the prevention of distal metastases.
 
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