Personalized Treatments

Burzynski Clinic offers variety of cancer treatments for patients diagnosed with over 50 different types of malignancies, including colon, pulmonary, breast, prostate, head and neck, ovarian, pancreatic, esophageal, hepatic, renal, bladder, brain, malignant melanoma, lymphoma, and many others.

Our approach to cancer: Personalized Medicine

For many years scientists have been trying to understand why some patients respond better to similar cancer treatments better than others. Recent studies have shown a strong link between patient's gene expression and the effectiveness of a cancer treatment. The understanding that all cancers are associated with changes in gene expression (activity) led to dramatic changes in the diagnosis and therapy of cancer and to creation of personalized medicine. Personalized medicine tries to identify these relations through detection of genes involved in cancer.

After determination of a sequence of the human genome it was found that only 10% of genes are active in adult life. This means that approximately 90% of our genes are silenced. The system of biochemical factors called epigenome consists of molecular switches that silence and activate the genes during our life.

At the age of 25, the body has the optimal combination of active genes, but soon thereafter, groups of genes are gradually turned off during the aging process. Silencing of tumor suppressor genes triggers increased activity of oncogenes leading to mutations and increasing the risk of cancer. Decreased activity of tumor suppressors and increased activity of oncogenes lead to cancer.

Based on the current knowledge of the epigenetic mechanisms the new approach in medical oncology is to reverse the relationship between the oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.

Gene expression is a process, during which a gene's DNA sequence is converted into the structures and functions of proteins.

Personalized Treatment

Our approach to cancer is a result of Dr. Burzynski's extensive experience in cancer research in the field of genetics and genomics.

Personalized Treatments offered by the Burzynski Clinic are individual treatment plans, customized for each patient, based on:

• Identification of oncogenes responsible for the growth of cancerous cells in individual patients
• Selection of targeted pharmaceuticals that selectively kill cancer cells carrying the identified abnormal genes

The main goal of a Personalized Treatment is to match the right patient to the right treatment to achieve maximum effectiveness with minimum side effects.

How does the Personalized Treatment Work?

To establish a personalized treatment plan we first must identify the expression (activity) of patient's oncogenes. The gene expression is identified through the oncogene testing (genetic markers testing). The identification of oncogenes enables our medical team to assess patient's response chance and to determine the most optimal combination of medications.