​

Proof That Testosterone Cures Alzheimer's and Kills Breast Cancer
by Edward Friedman, Ph.D.

​

Breast Cancer Predictions in Book

​

It must seem that nobody could have foreseen that anastrazole-testosterone pellets (anastrozole is a generic drug that prevents testosterone being converted to estrogen) would reduce the breast cancer volume 12-fold in just three months in a 90 year old woman along with so many positive side effects (to quote from this article, many of the patient's symptoms, including memory loss, physical fatigue, urinary incontinence, sleep disturbance, depression, and pain, improved with testosterone therapy. ... There have been no adverse drug events with therapy. The patient "feels better than she has in years," is no longer using a walker, and is driving her car again.), but in fact I did. On page 244 of my book (an excellent synopsis of my book is available here), in talking about what I would do if I were a woman diagnosed with breast cancer, I state "I would ... start with the anastrozole- testosterone pellets used by Dr. Glaser." I wrote those words months before Dr. Glaser ever saw that 90 year old woman, and Dr. Glaser treated her patient months before my book was published. In addition, on page 284 of the book I state "I sometimes joke with my friends that my research will end up saving Medicare while putting a strain on Social Security - because people will live longer, healthier lives. However, there may be more truth than humor in my statement." In the book I detail studies that show the many health benefits of testosterone in both men and women. (However, I must admit that I did not anticipate elderly people no longer needing walkers:) While it may seem strange to give testosterone to women, in fact "in their early reproductive years, women have 10 times more testosterone than estrogen coursing through their bodies."

​

Androgen Receptors in Breast Cancer

​

The science behind treating breast cancer by using testosterone along with a drug to prevent testosterone from being converted to estrogen is very straightforward. Testosterone binds to what is called androgen receptors. Some androgen receptors are found inside the cells and others are found on the cell membrane. The androgen receptors inside breast cancer cells increase the rate of cell death. Also, the androgen receptors on the breast cancer cell membrane increase the rate of cell death. Therefore, testosterone will increase the rate of cell death unless it is allowed to be converted to estrogen, since estrogen increases the rate of growth and reduces the rate of cell death for breast cancer cells.

​

No More Breast Cancer Deaths?

​

The anastrazole-testosterone pellets so far have a 0% recurrence rate dating back to 2006. My best estimate is that this represents 500 woman years with no recurrences, which should have resulted in at least 10 recurrences (2% per year times 500 years equals 10) instead of 0. It remains to be seen if this means the end of almost all breast cancer deaths in women. In theory, some breast cancers may still recur if they have a fast enough rate of cell division.

A five year report of a 10 year study shows that post-menopausal women taking testosterone or testosterone/anastrozole pellets in a compliant manner reduced their risk of developing breast cancer 4-fold. The conclusion of the 10 year study showed significant reduction in the risk of breast cancer.

​

Advanced Explanation of Why this Treatment Works Against Breast Cancer

​

The androgen receptors actually increase the rate of cell death for breast cancer cells by decreasing the production of Bcl-2. Bcl-2 is a protein that protects the cancer cells from dying. Less Bcl-2 means that the cancer cells die more quickly. If there is a mutation that eliminates the androgen receptors inside the cancer cells, then testosterone will be even more effective. The remaining androgen receptors on the cell membrane will still decrease Bcl-2 production, but also produce proteins that actively kill breast cancer. On the other hand, if there is a mutation that eliminate the androgen receptors on the cell membrane, then testosterone will also be even more effective. This is because the remaining androgen receptors inside the cancer cells will still decrease Bcl-2 production, but also produce a protein called AS3 which stops cell division. Therefore, testosterone should increase the rate of cell death for virtually all breast cancer cells, whether they are androgen receptor positive, androgen receptor negative, estrogen receptor positive, or estrogen receptor negative. Whether this results in all of the cancer cells being killed off, the cancer population growing so slowly that it is no longer life threatening, or only prolonging the woman's life will depend on the genetic makeup of the cancer inside each woman.
 

Alzheimer's

​

The best way to understand the relationship between testosterone and Alzheimer's is to think about insulin and diabetes. Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels become too high. Insulin is known to lower blood sugar levels. However, if only a small amount of insulin is administered, then it will lower blood sugar levels somewhat, but will not be sufficient to control the disease.

Similarly, testosterone is known to reverse the biochemical reactions associated with Alzheimer's, as detailed in chapter 6 of the book. Doctors actually tried using a small amount of testosterone on men with early stage Alzheimer's. They raised the average free testosterone from 5.2 to 9.4, with the normal range for men being 9 to 30. Dr. Abraham Morgentaler of Harvard Medical School makes the excellent point that it makes no sense to consider the low levels of testosterone seen in elderly men as normal. In his article, he says "age-adjusted testosterone reference values should be eliminated. Since testosterone values decline with age, it makes no sense to define "normal" by comparing individuals to populations of similarly aged men who have also experienced a decline in values. Imagine if we denied eyeglasses to all but those with visual acuity in the lowest 2.5% (2 sd from the mean) of their contemporaries!" The men receiving testosterone fared better mentally (less decline of their visuospatial functions) than those men who received a placebo. However, because no cure was observed with the small amount of testosterone administered, the researchers concluded that testosterone was not the answer to Alzheimer's. This makes as little sense as analyzing an experiment in which only a small amount of insulin is used and concluding that insulin is not the answer to diabetes. Anyone who understands biochemistry knows that insulin must be able to lower sugar to normal levels if enough is used and testosterone must stop the progression of Alzheimer's if enough is used.

This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that Alzheimer's mice treated in such a way as to produce higher than normal levels of testosterone (while none of the testosterone is allowed to be converted to estrogen) ended up exhibiting no Alzheimer's symptoms and actually had better memories than normal mice. In addition, they showed no age related decline in memory. Unfortunately, none of these three facts were mentioned in the abstract to this paper, so the Alzheimer's researchers seem to have overlooked this study.

Not surprisingly, men who undergo androgen deprivation therapy increase their risk of Alzheimer's and dementia.

Clearly, the question is not if testosterone can stop the progression of Alzheimer's (there is no cure for late stage Alzheimer's because there is no way to revive brain cells that are already dead), but rather is it safe to give the high levels of testosterone required to do this, especially for elderly people. While more research is needed to definitively answer this question (although at this point, no properly conducted experiment has shown testosterone not to be safe), it should be pointed out that when a 90 year old woman without Alzheimer's was given high levels of testosterone (along with a drug that prevented the testosterone from being converted to estradiol), not only did her memory improve, but there were no adverse side effects and many beneficial side effects.

For more information about Alzheimer's disease, please read my latest article.

​

Estriol

​

While using testosterone along with a drug to prevent it being converted to estrogen works unbelievably well against Alzheimer's and breast cancer, the book explains how it is possible to improve on this treatment. Estrogen receptor-beta acts to prevent breast cancer cell proliferation and fight Alzheimer's. Estriol binds preferentially to estrogen receptor-beta and should add to the effectiveness of the treatment discussed above. While there are no short term adverse effects from using testosterone plus a drug that prevents its conversion to estrogen, long term use may result in a lowering of bone density. Estriol should help prevent this loss of bone density. Since estriol binds preferentially to estrogen receptor-beta, as explained in my book, it should also help fight breast cancer, prostate cancer, and Alzheimer's.

Back to Home Page
Contact info: ed@math.uchicago.edu