Frank Arguello

Frank Arguello is an American cancer research scientist, Medical Doctor and author. He introduced the concepts of “atavistic oncology” and “atavistic chemotherapy.” He is the creator and director of the Atavistic Chemotherapy Clinical Trial.

Frank Arguello
Born
Francisco Arguello Astorga

Mexico
Alma materUniversity of Nuevo Leon School of Medicine
Scientific career
FieldsChemotherapy
InstitutionsNational Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health

Biography

Arguello graduated from College of Bachelors in Torreon, Mexico, in 1978, with a degree in biology. He earned his earned his M.D. from University of Nuevo León School of Medicine in Monterrey, Mexico in 1984 and completed a fellowship at The James P. Wilmont Cancer Centre in Rochester, New York. He is a former assistant professor of pediatrics, Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and assistant professor of oncology at Strong Memorial Hospital Cancer Center in Rochester, New York.

Arguello is also a former scientist with the National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Treatment & Diagnosis, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland conducting pre-clinical trials and evaluating the potential anticancer properties of new drugs being discovered at the NCI's screening programs. In 2011, he published a book Atavistic Metamorphosis: A New and Logical Explanation for the Origin and Biological Nature of Cancer which gave genesis to the Atavistic Chemotherapy Clinical Trial™.[1]

Research

Arguello's early research was focused on understanding cancer metastases. His investigations led to the development of laboratory animal models to develop and study experimental metastases to the bones and other organs. Using this model, he studied and described the sequence of events that take place during bone metastasis, particularly vertebral metastasis and spinal cord compression. Arguello and colleagues at the University of Rochester also established that both vascular access of cancer cells to a target organ and the tissue microenvironment in it played a critical role in the establishment of metastases.

At the NIH, NCI, Arguello evaluated several novel anticancer agents including 9-chloro-2-methylellipticinium acetate, alone and in combination with conventional anticancer drugs for the treatment of human brain tumor xenografts, and flavopiridol in the treatment of xenografted human leukemias and lymphomas.

Arguello's current research includes investigations of the unique and perplexing traits shared by pathogenic unicellular organisms and cancer cells. These traits suggest that malignant transformation may represent a re-emergence, in a differentiated cell, of an ancestral genetic program that was active in the evolutionary past of our cells. In other words, the behavior that scientists regard as ‘malignant,’ including cell autonomy; invasion and digestion of surrounding normal tissues; migration and colonization of distant organs; ability to develop resistance to drugs, temperature, or radiation; and ability to kill the host, are not only characteristics of cancer cells, but of pathogenic and/or single-celled organisms (bacteria, fungi and protozoa). Since human cells originated from a single-celled organism, several scientists have postulated that the pathogenic behavior of cancer cells is likely due to the re-expression of past traits and behaviors (atavism) derived from their past evolutionary experience as independent, single-celled organisms.[2][3] This reversion or de-evolution of a differentiated cell to its ancestral undifferentiated, unicellular form has suggested that cancer is a cellular atavism. The objective of atavistic chemotherapy clinical trial is to determine whether there is a benefit for patients with inoperable or metastatic cancers when treated successfully with combinations of selected drugs conventionally used in medical practice to kill single-celled organisms, such as antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-protozoal drugs.[4] Preliminary results show that atavistic chemotherapy can induce complete cancer regressions of several types of metastatic and inoperable cancers. Arguello's investigations have been challenged by another cancer researcher, who has been found to have ties to the pharmaceutical industry.[5][6]

Selected publications
  • A murine model of experimental metastasis to bone and bone marrow, F Arguello, RB Baggs, CN Frantz, Cancer research 48 (23), 6876-6881 408, 1988
  • Flavopiridol induces apoptosis of normal lymphoid cells, causes immunosuppression, and has potent antitumor activity in vivo against human leukemia and lymphoma xenografts, F Arguello, Mark Alexander, Judith A Sterry, Gabriela Tudor, Erik M Smith, Naina T Kalavar, John F Greene Jr, William Koss, C David Morgan, Sherman F Stinson, Timothy J Siford, W, Gregory Alvord, Richard L Klabansky, Edward A Sausville, Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology 91 (7), 2482-2490,302, 1998
  • Pathogenesis of vertebral metastasis and epidural spinal cord compression, F Arguello, RE Duerst, K McQueen, CN Frantz, RB Baggs, L Johnstone, Cancer 65 (1), 98-106, 208, 1990
  • Incidence and distribution of experimental metastases in mutant mice with defective organ microenvironments (genotypes Sl/Sld and W/Wv), Richard W Furlanetto, Raymond B Baggs, Brian T Graves, Shari E Harwell, Harvey J Cohen, Christopher N Frantz, Cancer research 52 (8), 2304-2309, 59, 1992
  • Vascular anatomy and organ‐specific tumor growth as critical factors in the development of metastases and their distribution among organs, F Arguello, RB Baggs, AE Eskenazi, RE Duerst, CN Frantz, International journal of cancer 48 (4), 583-590, 34 ,1991
  • Preclinical evaluation of 9-chloro-2-methylellipticinium acetate alone and in combination with conventional anticancer drugs for the treatment of human brain tumor xenografts, F Arguello, MA Alexander, JF Greene Jr, SF Stinson, JL Jorden, EM Smith, Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology 124 (1), 19-26, 22, 1998
  • Experimental bone and bone marrow metastasis in laboratory animals, F ARGUELLO, CN FRANTZ, RB BAGGS, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 82 (12), 1069-1070, 4, 1990

References
  1. ""Atavistic chemotherapy": A new form of cancer quackery based on misunderstanding evolution?". ScienceBlogs.
  2. Vincent M (November 22, 2011). "Cancer: a de-repression of a default survival program common to all cells?: a life-history perspective on the nature of cancer". BioEssays. 34 (1): 72–82. doi:10.1002/bies.201100049. PMID 22105565.
  3. Niculescu VF (2020). "aCLS cancers: genomic and epigenetic changes transform the cell of origin of cancer into a tumorigenic pathogen of unicellular organization and lifestyle". Gene. 726: 144174. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2019.144174. PMID 31647999.
  4. Gorski, David. ""Atavistic oncology": Another dubious cancer therapy to be avoided". Science-Based Medicine. Science based medicine.
  5. "David Gorski's Financial Pharma Ties: What He Didn't Tell You". Age of autism.
  6. "Renowned American Cancer Scientist To Discuss A New and Effective Treatment For Cancer Patients At UBC Robson Square".
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