Epoca Theory in Cancer Treatment

The regression of cancer caused by the release of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 could lead to a new class of cancer therapies. The target is to provoke a sarcoidosis response against a malignant process. This approach probably represents one of the most effective therapeutic options because it uses an existing biological system. Vitamin D is the key for starting this system of EPOCA.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased mortality in Germany. We calculated an associated mortality rate of 18,000 lives lost each year [166]. The EPOCA theory submitted here is one causal explanation for this large number. Without enough vitamin D, the substrate for the blockade of cancer cells is lacking. Therefore, administering vitamin D can be regarded as an effective measure to prevent cancer.

The essential ideas of EPOCA theory were presented at the 4th International Symposium On Vitamin D And Analogs In Cancer Prevention And Therapy in Homburg (Saar) in 2011. Another presentation followed on the Vitamin D Update 2013 congress in Berlin. The EPOCA hypothesis concerns several practice areas of medicine. The first area is pulmonology, whose practitioners treat sarcoidosis patients. We must also consider the oncologists who diagnose and treat cancer. The third area covers the vitamin D researchers who investigate the relationship between vitamin D and cancer defense.

Even in modern science new findings can remain hidden for a long time because they arouse negative emotions. Having researchers leave their traditional working area and invade neighboring areas can be burdensome. Therefore, the interdisciplinary perspective of EPOCA theory involves additional stress for those who deal with it. Everyone is inclined to quickly retreat to his own comfortable territory: it is difficult to publish scientific statements concerning a neighboring area.

A second stress arises, through a problematic change in the patient’s perspective. When the EPOCA theory is presented to sarcoidosis patients, they face the idea of uncontrolled cell proliferation: “Cancer” causes the sarcoidosis symptoms. This new perspective is not trivial. The physician should moderate the psychological stress for the patient with facts. First, the prognosis of sarcoidosis with 97% healing is an excellent response. According to EPOCA theory, this observed reaction is a reliable physiological work. It is a psychological advantage of EPOCA theory that it eliminates the anxiety over a mysterious disease. The result of this talk is a prospect of a cure in the near future. It is most important that this understanding give a new and successful approach to therapy.

So far, the therapeutic success with the preferred cortisone therapy has been inconsistent. The reason for this is attributed to the lack of perception of vitamin D levels. In EPOCA theory, vitamin D is an essential component of healing and shortening the course of sarcoidosis.

Even if the sarcoidosis patient is confronted with the idea of a malignant disease, it is helpful to know that the cause of this disease is clarified and that a manageable solution to the chronic course exists. How could a doctor communicate the confirmed diagnosis of sarcoidosis? We compiled our ideas in the following draft touching all four important aspects.

Imagine that there is a physiological response to a disease!"

1. “I have good news about your health. Your body is showing the symptoms of a so-called sarcoidosis. By reacting this way, your body has proven that it is strong enough to recognize a potential danger and to fight with its natural defenses.” There is a known cause.
2. “This disease is characterized by the presence of precursors of a disease characterized by the abnormal growth of cells. Sarcoidosis keeps these cells from proliferating and harming you.” There is a good prognosis.
3. “The defense of the body is strong enough to overcome these defective cells in 97% of cases.” There is an efficient therapeutic support.
4. “In this defense of the faulty cells, the body needs the right amount of vitamin D—not too little and not too much. With vitamin D the body is supported and the time of curing is shortened. Treatment with vitamin D results in a further increase of the mentioned success rate of 97%.”

Our discussion of EPOCA therapy shows the biochemical relationships between the disciplines. EPOCA theory is a plausible explanation for all the features of sarcoidosis. With a readily available substance such as vitamin d physicians may assist the physiological process. We see the beginning of a new field of oncological research with the task of initiating the EPOCA reaction after cancer diagnosis.

Conclusions

EPOCA theory sees sarcoidosis as a physiological response to cells with unphysiological growth. This are the four items of this hypothesis:

A) Case reports of coincidence of neoplasms in connection to sarcoidosis amount to 14% of all case reports of sarcoidosis and underline the connection. The known mimicry of cancerous structures by sarcoidosis could be due to the successful overlay of existing cancer cells.

B) All known phenomena of sarcoidosis were reviewed and can be explained in the new context: The pathognomonic “lack of caseation” in the histological picture is based on the full absorption of the body’s own material. The pattern of the epidemiologic spread of sarcoidosis corresponds to the distribution of the vitamin D deficiency. In the absence of vitamin D the physiological process of sarcoidosis is weaker, longer and more evident to the eye of the doctor.

C) The biochemical forces of active vitamin D are suitable to inhibit growth. Monocytes releasing active vitamin D can induce apoptosis of malignant cells.

D) There could be a shift in the understanding of an uncategorized medical phenomenon: Sarcoidosis is no longer a pathological but a physiological response. This changes a basic medical paradigm: The patient’s sarcoidosis was a contraindication for application of vitamin D. This paradigm changes to an indication for vitamin D. Vitamin D however should be applied cautiously under control of serum creatinine and serum calcium levels. Furthermore a new class of cancer therapy might arise