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You’re Listening to 103.6FM, Curin’ Cancer to the Oldies

WEDNESDAY APRIL 16 2008 10:00 AM

Submitted by punk. Edited By punk.

TAGS: cancer, cure, research, nanoparticles, radio

John Kanzius is a retired radio executive living out his retirement in Florida. He may also be the man responsible for curing cancer. At first, when you read the story of his adventure into medical research, you might think “bullshit.” But that’s only until you read that several major medical research hospitals have taken up his cause, and that John has been raising millions of dollars to help fund research.

John Kanzius has no background in cancer research but might have invented a real cure. He was diagnosed with leukemia, and struck by the idea that radio waves could kill cancer cells.

Radio waves! How? Powerful radio waves can heat metal, so John built a prototype high-powered radio transmitter in his garage, grabbed a hot dog, injected it with copper sulfate, and subjected it to his treatment. The hotdog heated to the point where cells would die, but only in the area of the injection. The rest of the hot dog was the same temperature as it had been before the test.

He nuked a hot dog. Big fuckin’ deal, right? Yeah, actually. It kind of is. This device would allow doctors to focus treatment on a single area, neutralizing the targeted cells but leaving the surrounding cells healthy and unharmed.

Kanzius thought he had found a way attack cancer cells without the collateral damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation. Today, his invention is in the laboratories of two major research centers - the University of Pittsburgh and M.D. Anderson, where Dr. Steven Curley, a liver cancer surgeon, is testing it.

To address the issue of injecting patients with metal, John suggested metal nanoparticles instead of chemical solutions. Trillions of nanoparticles can be injected into the body with just a few milliliters of solution.

Enter Rick Smalley, another cancer patient at M.D. Anderson and the man who won the Nobel Prize for discovering nanoparticles made from carbon. As luck would have it, Dr. Curley was called in one day to examine Smalley. Before leaving, he asked him for some of his nanoparticles.

Rick said “ho-ho, good luck with that,” but shut his mouth when Curley called him back and let him know that he and Kanzius had managed to get his vial of nanoparticles to boil in Kanzius' machine. “Rick, you’re not going to believe this. He just blew the smithereens out of your nanoparticles!” Rick paused and then responded: “Holy shit.”

They’ve already shown that the Kanzius machine can heat nanoparticles and cook cancer to death in animals. Dr. Curley with rabbits, and in Pittsburgh, Dr. David Geller demonstrated to 60 Minutes how he used nanoparticles, made from gold, to kill liver cancer cells grown in rats.

Unfortunately, there have been numerous studies that succeed in treating cancer in lab environments and in test animals, but fail in humans. Human trials are about four years away, and right now they can only target focused tumors (no metastasized cancers, yet), but the researchers involved are hopeful.

"Right now it is a little science fiction," Curley agreed. "We’re not quite to the real time yet, but it’s got a lot of promise."

Sadly, John might not be around by the time his invention proves itself. His only option at this point is a bone marrow transplant, which would only prolong his pain and suffering.

"Did you ever say, 'I’m not going to do this anymore. I’m not going to put myself through it,'?" Stahl asked.

"Yes. I said that-only about a year and a half ago," Kanzius replied. "I changed my mind because I think with all the research that’s going on with the institutions, that maybe, I'd like to be around for the first patient to get treated and just have a smile."

28 Comments

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Hunkpapa

United Kingdom

June 2004

APR 16, 2008 10:16 AM

fascinating stuff, and really quite astonishing. fingers crossed they get somewhere with this. good story, punk!

Ferretbite

Mexico

September 2006

APR 16, 2008 10:25 AM

Yup, this is pretty awesome, great story, let's see how it goes.

Oninotaki

Ypsilanti, MI

March 2003

APR 16, 2008 10:41 AM

I am all about us getting more and more accurate when it comes to killing cancer cells! I hope this, or an invention that stems from this will soon be able to kill just cancer cells anywhere in the body soon.

I wish these gentlemen the best of luck, and I hope he gets to be the 1st to try out his machine.

_Margot_

Santa Monica, CA

December 2007

APR 16, 2008 11:25 AM

Wow, fantastic story,punk.

doolittle

Mesa, AZ

December 2004

APR 16, 2008 11:41 AM

excellent story

i really hope this works in humans

Narghile

Birmingham, AL

October 2005

APR 16, 2008 12:32 PM

I like nanoparticles in milk for breakfast.

flabajaba2213

Bristol, RI

July 2006

APR 16, 2008 12:53 PM

Funny how something so simple can cure cancer (the radio waves I mean, not the nano thingies).

cockzombie

Santa Fe, NM

July 2006

APR 16, 2008 01:07 PM

holy shit. As someone currently with cancer, I wonder if my toothbrush that plays music when it hits my teeth could help?

(just kidding)

seriously though, this is amazing, and I really hope it works and gets developed soon. It is, however, another reason we need more early detection. If you don't catch it before it spreads, this method (if it did end up working) wouldn't work

JacksWastedLife

Irving, TX

April 2007

APR 16, 2008 01:29 PM

neat

crispy

NEWSWIRE

Philadelphia, PA

APR 16, 2008 02:03 PM

Amazing.

Side note: give him a week, and Howard Stern will say that he did it first.

TheFuckOffKid

NEWSWIRE

Australia

APR 16, 2008 02:34 PM

crispy said:
Amazing.

Side note: give him a week, and Howard Stern will say that he did it first.

From what Iv'e seen on internet video sites, Stern's broadcasts seem to cure cancer of the clothes!

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

SockPuppet

United Kingdom

July 2006

APR 16, 2008 04:37 PM

Good

And, AFAICT, this should work on humans quite nicely thank you. The reason that treatments work differently in animal tests is that the lab animals have (slightly) different biochemistries than humans (which is why you don't give dogs chocolate). This, OTOH, is physics-based. So it should work in humans as well.

Strega

Minneapolis, MN

October 2005

APR 16, 2008 04:58 PM

I saw a piece on this on some news show but didn't quite follow how it all worked. Thanks for filling in the blanks. Fascinating story.

strndniowa

Grimes, IA

May 2007

APR 16, 2008 09:11 PM

This is nothing really new, but is a refinement of current systems...if it works as well as it sounds like it does, then it needs to go forward...quickly...
It has always bothered me when people are told that there is a not proven cure, that could save their life...but it is still in the early stages...and not approved for use...
I'd rather die from the yet to be approved cure then cancer...at least it is a chance...and if I die from that, at least it may give some Data to the researchers to make it work for the next person...