Arginine in the Treatment of Cancerous Tumors

What is Arginine? (l-arginine)


Arginine is a complex amino acid and is considered to be conditionally essential. It does not fall perfectly into the essential or non-essential categories, due to the fact that arginine can be synthesized in the body at adequate levels for maintenance in normal adults. The body needs higher levels of arginine when it is under conditions of stress, illness, malnutrition or injury. When these conditions are present arginine then becomes essential. There are also some rare genetic disorders in which the synthesis of arginine is impaired; in these conditions supplemental arginine is necessary. It is interesting that even in those not deficient in arginine, beneficial effects were realized by supplementation.


In the human body arginine is most concentrated in skin and connective tissue.


Arginine has many benefits: 
Aids in liver detoxification
Detoxifies ammonia
Increases sperm count in males
Aids in kidney disorders and trauma
Maximizes protein synthesis 
Helps lower cholesterol
Stimulates blood flow
Stimulates cerebral circulation
Promotes optimum growth
Helps to reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass
Assists the body in collagen production
Assists in the release of growth hormones
Enhances immune system function
Causes retardation of tumor growth


The actions of L-arginine which are related to its use in cancer treatment are:
Inhibits cellular replication of tumors
Assists in the release of growth hormones
Enhances immune response 
Improves rate of wound healing (in cases of surgical intervention) 


Arginine retards the growth of tumors and cancer by enhancing immune function. The thymus gland is the "director" of the immune system and plays a key role in determining the effectiveness of the immune response to cancer. When the body is under attack from cancer, protein loss causes the thymus to shrink, drastically reducing the strength of the body’s immune response. Supplements of free-form arginine, acting as the precursor of growth hormone, have shown the ability to increase the size and health of the thymus gland. The immune response becomes more vigorous as the thymus gland produces more of its enzyme, thymosin, which in turn stimulates the spleen and lymph nodes to manufacture higher levels of T lymphocytes (T-cells). The T-cells are not only increased in number, but also become more active and effective. T-cells aid in the destruction of pathogens, including cancerous cells, either by digesting the invading agents or by sending out toxic compounds to destroy them. 


A correlation has been seen between the excess of an enzyme, ornithine decarboxylase, and increased tumor growth. Arginine supplementation has been shown to decrease the activity of ornithine decarboxylase and aid in slowing tumor development in this manner also.  It is also believed that the by-products of normal arginine metabolism produce anti-tumor activity resulting in lowering polyamines, which are elevated in many cancer patients.



(Arginine is L-Arginine.  This is also the primary supplement in Hills Prescription Cancer Diet food. That food is canned because any cancer diet MUST be very high protein and medium fat. Almost all, probably 99% of all kibble dry dog foods no matter how much you pay is pretty high carb. Cancer loves carbs. Hills is available only at your vet at a very high price and does not have all that great ingredients. Just buy a good dry food and add l-arginine from your health food store to it with some cooked eggs or cooked ground turkey and some fish oil to up the quality protein and quality higher fats.)


I  GIVE LUCY A 80# LAB 900mg of Arginine capsule.




Arginine in the Treatment of Cancerous Tumors


Arginine and Fish Oil May Help Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy


Effect of fish oil, arginine, and doxorubicin chemotherapy on remission and survival time for dogs with lymphoma



Research Supporting the Use of Arginine in Cancer Treatment:
Animals fed arginine rich diets (5%) had considerably fewer and more benign tumors when later treated with the carcinogen DMDA (Takeda, Y., et al, Cancer Research, vol. 35, p.2390, Sept. 1975).
Arginine added to drinking water in animals was able to inhibit subcutaneous tumor growth (Pryme, If, Cancer Letters, Vol5, p. 19, 1978).
Arginine added to diet of mice (5% of wt.) produced fewer tumors, slower growing tumors, and twice the mean survival time as compared to untreated mice (Milner, JA, et al., Journal of Nutrition, vol.109, p.489, 1979).
Via animal studies, researchers have speculated on two primary functions of arginine in the body; essential for the synthesis of reparative collagen in wound recovery, decreases some of the negative aspects of metabolic responses to injury (Seifter, E., et al., Surgery, vol.84, no.2, p.224, 1978).
Arginine supplements in animals stimulated thymus activity which resulted in reduced tumor growth (Critselis, AN, et al., Federation Proceedings, vol.36, p.1163, 1977). Arginine also dramatically improves wound healing.
Arginine stimulates lymphocyte immune response in 21 healthy human volunteers Barbul, A., et al., Surgery, vol.90, no.2, p.244, 1981).
Arginine supplements in tumor-bearing mice provided enhanced T-cell function, increased response to autologous tumors, retarded tumor growth, and prolonged median survival time (Reynolds, JV, et al., Annals of Surgery, p.202, Feb.1990).
In mice with neuroblastomas, arginine supplements provided significant tumor retardation in the ummunogenic group (Reynolds, JV, et al., Journal of Surgical Research, vol.45, p.513, 1988). Arginine’s tumoricidal abilities go beyond its protein sparing abilities or immune stimulation.
Arginine supplements in mice provided significant enhancement of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, natural killer cell activity, interleukin-2 receptors and general immune improvements (Reynolds, JV, et al., Surgery, vol.104, no.2, p.142, Aug.1988).
Accelerates protein synthesis and elevates albumin synthesis from 8.5% to 19.7% when used in TPN formula in 10 malnourished cancer patients (Tayek, JA, et al., Clinical Research, vol.33, no.1, p.72A, 1985).
Volunteers with breast cancer were given 10 milligrams a day for three days, which significantly enhanced several measures of immune function.. The mitogenic responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes were increased approximately 60%, while NK and LAK cytotoxicity were increased by 81 and 107%.

L-Arginine is an essential amino acid required for the normal cellular growth, metabolism and organ function. However, L-Arginine also plays a vital role in inducing cell death - Apoptosis. 

In a recent study conducted on dogs suffering with lymphoblastic lymphoma, researchers were able to increase survival time to a significant level by providing L-Arginine and fish oil only as a dietary supplement. L-Arginine was found to lower the levels of lactic acid and insulin in the blood and also reduce the levels of cytokines that can help in the growth of cancer. L-Arginine also helps in enhancing immunity in cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy or surgery. Certain cancer types do not require L-Arginine for their growth. Studies have shown that overloading such cancer cells with excess L-Arginine has resulted in decreased tumor growth.