Thomas Seyfried: cancer is not caused by genes!

Thomas Seyfried

According to professor Dr. Thomas Seyfried, cancer is not caused by gene mutations. Cancer is primarily a metabolic disease driven by damaged respiration rather than a genetic mutation-driven disease. All gene mutations found in cancers are secondary effects and not the cause of cancer. His radical views have implications for cancer treatment. He is strongly opposed to mainstream cancer therapies such as  radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and he promotes alternative less toxic therapies. The question of what cancer is and how it should be treated extends far beyond the scientific controversy over gene-centrism, cell-centrism or metabolism-centrism. For a cancer patient, it is a matter of life and death.

  

According to Seyfried, cancer begins in the mitochondria. The main evidence of his theory is dysfunctional mitochondria. Electron microscopic photographic images clearly show damaged mitochondira in many but not all cancers. This results in fermentation (glycolysis and glutaminolysis) for energy even when oxygen is present. Tumor growth depends heavily on specific fuels like glucose and glutamine; depriving cells of these fermentable fuels through restricted ketogenic diets or metabolic therapies targets cancer cell survival. The main advantage of the Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy is that it does not damage non-cancerous cells because healthy cells have flexible, fully functioning mitochondria that can switch to burning fats and ketones for energy, whereas cancer cells rely rigidly on fermentation (glucose and glutamine) and lack this metabolic flexibility.

His critics point out that thousands of peer-reviewed genomic studies show specific, recurring driver mutations (such as in TP53, BRCA, or EGFR) that directly cause uncontrolled cell growth. Indeed, I found his ignorance (?), omission or dismissal of genetic evidence rather shocking. He has the right to have an alternative theory, but he must deal with the established mainstream facts [1]. You can't just ignore them. It is very unlikely that the association of specific 'cancer mutations' and cancer are accidental and have no meaning. What is the likelihood that a mere handful out of the 25,000 human genes would acquire mutations so consistently in almost all cancers? How do cancer-specific mutations arise as an epiphenomenon of the 'disturbance of cellular energy metabolism'?  

Another question I have is: What is the cause of dysfunctional mitochondria? Could it be that this is caused by mutations in mitochondrial-DNA or in nuclear-DNA? Seyfried should address these matters especially if he wants to be taken serious by mainstream science. Furthermore, I wonder why dysfunctional mitochondria result in uncontrolled cell division. Why should that have survival advantage? Why don't those cells just die? This is an unsolved problem in his theory [2].

Seyfried is a scientific maverick in the sense that he is an independent and unorthodox researcher and an outspoken critic of mainstream oncology. He accuses mainstream oncologists of dogmatism and 'confirmation bias'. The reason that I blogged about Seyfried is that he has alternative views (I am always interested in interesting alternative views!) and that he is strongly opposed to dogmatic DNA- and gene-centric thinking. Finally, Seyfried's therapy could render harsh treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation unnecessary, and potentially save lives.

Notes

1. For example 'inherited cancer predisposition syndromes'. About 55% to 72% of women with a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by age 80.
2. According to mainstream science, mutations in the TP53 and Ras genes are primary causes of cancer, they are driver mutations. So, mainstream science has a detailed explanation of the association of specific somatic mutations and uncontrolled cell proliferation. This is lacking in Seyfried's theory as far as I know. However, interestingly and intriguingly, the p53 tumor suppressor protein regulates mitochondrial respiration! This is absolutely a topic that Seyfried should discuss! 

 

Further Reading

• Thomas N. Seyfried (2012) Cancer As A Metabolic Disease, Wiley. The book is available in Amazon for $80. For a free overview of his theory read the 2013 publication (below) of watch his Youtube lectures (below). 
• Cancer as a Mitochondrial Metabolic Disease: Thomas Seyfried, Youtube, 2024. 1:02:27. Sometimes he is a little bit sarcastic and dramatic. There are other lectures of Seyfried available.
• Thomas N. Seyfried et al. (2013) Cancer as a metabolic disease: implications for novel therapeutics, Carcinogenesis, 2013.Open Access. With all the illustrations from his lecture.
• Targeting cancer July 2019. "An international research team led by a Boston College professor has uncovered a drug and diet pairing that could fight a deadly brain cancer". This is a free overview of the theory and the application of a therapy to a mouse.
• Therapeutic benefit of combining calorie-restricted ketogenic diet and glutamine targeting in late-stage experimental glioblastoma, Nature, 2019. Open Access. Seyfried is clearly working outside the mainstream oncology, but he and his team published about brain tumors in Nature.

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