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== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[List of ineffective cancer treatments]]
* [[List of ineffective cancer treatments]]

== GcMAF Development in Israel ==

In 2009 Efranat Ltd was founded as a private biotech pharmaceutical company in Israel to explore the medical uses of human GcMAF. It's founders postulated that the discovery of the GcMAF immune protein was an untapped natural cure for certain cancers and viral diseases. After preliminary research supported this hypothesis, Efranat Ltd secured private funding and grants from the Israeli government to develop their proprietary EF-022 GcMAF product and proceed with phased clinical trials.

A Phase 1 Clinical Trial was registered February 2014 on the U.S. government's clinicaltrials.gov website as NCT02052492. This trial recruited terminal cancer patients with certain tumor forming cancers. This trial completed successfully in May 2017.

As a result of this trial, GcMAF re-established itself as a promising therapy for cancer and chronic viral diseases. Efranat Ltd posted on their Linkedin company web page that 25% of the 24 terminal cancer patients achieved stability by the end of this trial. All recruited patients had failed earlier attempts to stabilize or cure their cancer using the Standard of Care for their cancer.

In May 2017 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted both an Orphan Drug Designation and a Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) designation for EF-022 for Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP) which currently is an incurable viral disease. Efranat Ltd is proceeding with development of GcMAF.


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 18:21, 8 November 2017

GcMAF (or Gc protein-derived macrophage activating factor) is a protein produced by modification of vitamin D-binding protein.[1]

GcMAF has not been properly studied in clinical trials and its laboratory results still need to be confirmed independently. So far, all claims on the efficacy of this product have no solid scientific basis. Its marketing is illegal; therefore there is no controlled guarantee on the quality of the product for human consumption sold over the internet.

Public warning issued by the Anticancer Fund[2]

Biochemically, GcMAF results from sequential deglycosylation of the vitamin D-binding protein (the Gc protein), which is naturally promoted by lymphocytes (B and T cells).[3] The resulting protein may be a macrophage activating factor (MAF).[3] MAFs are lymphokines that control the expression of antigens on the surface of macrophages, and one of their functions is to make macrophages become cytotoxic to tumors.[4]

False cancer-curing claims

Starting around 2008, GcMAF has been promoted as a cure for cancer,[5] HIV,[6] autism[7] and other conditions.[8]

Three out of four of the original studies authored by Yamamoto (published between 2007 and 2009) were retracted by the scientific journals in which they were published in 2014, officially due to irregularities in the way ethical approval was granted.[6][9][10][11] Retraction reasons also included methodological errors in the studies.[12][13] The integrity of the research, conducted by Nobuto Yamamoto and colleagues, that originally prompted claims regarding cancer and HIV has been questioned.[5][2]

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency[8] and Cancer Research UK has warned the public about spurious claims of clinical benefits, misleadingly based on reduced levels of the alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase enzyme (also known as nagalase), whose production might be increased in many cancers.[5]

In 2014 the Belgian Anticancer Fund has communicated serious concerns about published studies on GcMAF by Yamamoto and colleagues.[2]

In 2015 the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) closed a factory manufacturing GcMAF for cancer treatment.[14]

As of 2014 an Israeli company called Efranat was running a clinical trial of GcMAF in people with various kinds of cancer at a hospital in Israel.[15]

As of September 2017 there was no ongoing development of GcMAF.[16]

See also

GcMAF Development in Israel

In 2009 Efranat Ltd was founded as a private biotech pharmaceutical company in Israel to explore the medical uses of human GcMAF. It's founders postulated that the discovery of the GcMAF immune protein was an untapped natural cure for certain cancers and viral diseases. After preliminary research supported this hypothesis, Efranat Ltd secured private funding and grants from the Israeli government to develop their proprietary EF-022 GcMAF product and proceed with phased clinical trials.

A Phase 1 Clinical Trial was registered February 2014 on the U.S. government's clinicaltrials.gov website as NCT02052492. This trial recruited terminal cancer patients with certain tumor forming cancers. This trial completed successfully in May 2017.

As a result of this trial, GcMAF re-established itself as a promising therapy for cancer and chronic viral diseases. Efranat Ltd posted on their Linkedin company web page that 25% of the 24 terminal cancer patients achieved stability by the end of this trial. All recruited patients had failed earlier attempts to stabilize or cure their cancer using the Standard of Care for their cancer.

In May 2017 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted both an Orphan Drug Designation and a Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) designation for EF-022 for Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP) which currently is an incurable viral disease. Efranat Ltd is proceeding with development of GcMAF.

References

  1. ^ Galactosidases — Advances in Research and Application. Scholarly Editions. 21 June 2013. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-4816-8801-7.
  2. ^ a b c "GCMAF". Anticancer Fund. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-26.
  3. ^ a b Malik, Suneil; Fu, Lei; Juras, David James; Karmali, Mohamed; Wong, Betty Y. L.; Gozdzik, Agnes; Cole, David E. C. (January–February 2013). "Common variants of the vitamin D binding protein gene and adverse health outcomes". Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences. 50 (1): 1–22. doi:10.3109/10408363.2012.750262. PMC 3613945. PMID 23427793.
  4. ^ Mosser, David M. (February 2003). "The many faces of macrophage activation". Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 73 (2): 209–212. doi:10.1189/jlb.0602325. PMID 12554797.
  5. ^ a b c Arney, Kat (3 December 2008). "'Cancer cured for good?' – Gc-MAF and the miracle cure (revised 25 July 2014)". Cancer Research UK. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b (Retracted) Yamamoto, Nobuto; Ushijima, Naofumi; Koga, Yoshihiko (January 2009). "Immunotherapy of HIV-infected patients with Gc protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF)". Journal of Medical Virology. 81 (1): 16–26. doi:10.1002/jmv.21376. PMID 19031451.
  7. ^ Miller, Michael E. (16 July 2015). "The mysterious death of a doctor who peddled autism 'cures' to thousands". Washington Post. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Press Release: Regulator warns against GcMAF made in unlicensed facility in Cambridgeshire - GOV.UK". Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. 3 February 2015.
  9. ^ (Retracted) Yamamoto, Nobuto; Suyama, Hirofumi; Yamamoto, Nobuyuki; Ushijima, Naofumi (15 January 2008). "Immunotherapy of metastatic breast cancer patients with vitamin D-binding protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF)". International Journal of Cancer. 122 (2): 461–467. doi:10.1002/ijc.23107.
  10. ^ Yamamoto, N.; Suyama, H.; Nakazato, H.; Yamamoto, N.; Koga, Y. (2014). "Retraction Note to: Immunotherapy of metastatic colorectal cancer with vitamin D-binding protein-derived macrophage-activating factor, GcMAF". Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy. 63 (12): 1349. doi:10.1007/s00262-014-1616-x.
  11. ^ "Retraction". International Journal of Cancer. 135 (6): 1509. 15 September 2014. doi:10.1002/ijc.29014.
  12. ^ Ivan Oransky (25 July 2014). "Paper about widely touted but unapproved "cure" for cancer, autism retracted". Retractionwatch.
  13. ^ "Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process Yet another study of widely touted cancer "cure" retracted". Retraction Watch. Retraction Watch. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  14. ^ UK's MHRA shuts down GcMAF plant (FDA News website)
  15. ^ Cancer treatment developer Efranat raises $4.5 million, November 18, 2014 (Globes)
  16. ^ "Vitamin D binding protein macrophage-activating factor". AdisInsight. Retrieved 7 September 2017.

Further reading

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