Your Guide to Personalized Cancer Testing How to Access the Future of Cancer Care Today

Your Guide to Personalized Cancer Testing How to Access the Future of Cancer Care Today

RGCC

2024

Introduction Although I am a clinician, I came to the cancer world through the patient door when my mother and sister were both diagnosed with stage 4 cancers. I specialized in Chiropractic, Functional Endocrinology, and Emotional Healing. With all my education and 25 years of professional experience, I had no knowledge of what to do about cancer. It was a humbling experience. I went to the internet, started my research, and received my Google PhD, just like every other recently diagnosed patient and their loved ones and caregivers did. The experience was overwhelming.

The one advantage I did have was a practical understanding of doctor speak, how the body functions, and how the healthcare system works. This allowed me to help others on the same journey by becoming the “doctor in the family” for those that didn’t have one, helping them translate the “doctor” speak and understand the myriad of treatment options so they could make better choices and select the healing path that was best suited for them.

With my Functional paradigm background, I understood the importance of personalized care. Even with the same cancer diagnosis, no two people, and more specifically their genetics and physiology and thus, how that cancer is expressed within their bodies, are alike. What does this mean? It means the expression of that cancer will be different, and in turn, how each patient responds to treatment will also be different.

Knowing what I know, I had to ask the question, “How do I get care and treatment unique to my mother and sister when what is being offered are one-size-fits-all options?”.

My answer was to begin the search for labs that offered personalized testing and truly delivered.

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In my research, I found that it was easy to get caught up in the marketing words thinking that what was being offered was truly personalized. Upon further investigation, I found this was not always true. When comparing labs, the techniques they used, and the information they provided, time and again, one lab stood out: RGCC International.

This e-book is my gift to you as a patient advocate to help you in your journey. DO NOT take my word for it. I encourage you to do your own research and use this e-book as a guide in that endeavor. On the following pages I have provided you with points to investigate along with RGCC as a basis for comparison.

I wish you health and good healing on your journey.

Dr. Lauren Cohen, DC Managing Director of RGCC North America

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When Looking for Lab Testing, Avoid This Mistake If you are not a healthcare professional, it is easy to believe that all labs are essentially the same and it doesn’t really matter which lab runs your tests. Nothing could be further from the truth.

All labs are not alike. They differ in many ways. Some are large labs that are the “Jack of all trades, master of none,” while other specialize in a specific disease or testing. Some are just testing facilities running tests developed by others, while other labs focus on research, staying on the cutting edge, leading the way to the development of better testing and treatment options. Labs even differ in the science and technology used to run the tests even when it is the same test being performed.

When it comes to cancer testing, especially for specialty test panels, the differences go even deeper. Not only is it important to know the type of lab (large or small, standard or research, etc.), it is also important to understand the value of the information you will receive. What information does it give you? How is this information applied in clinical care? Is the information actionable? What is the method or technique used to get this information? Are there other labs who perform the same or similar tests? What are the differences between these labs and testing techniques? Which lab will provide me with the information I want and need?

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Things to Consider When Choosing a Lab Paradigm: What does the lab stand for? What is its goal or purpose? What is its culture? Does it have a relationship or sense of connection to the patients whose samples they have in their care?

These are questions not often asked in the laboratory space. Most labs are seen as cold, anonymous institutions, where samples are sent, and a piece of paper with results is sent back. There is little to no contact or connection with the practitioners or the patients.

When I was first introduced to RGCC, this was an aspect that stood out. It is a lab with a heart, a culture, a purpose, and a mission. The entire culture of RGCC is grounded in “Partnership and Personalization, both inside with its employees, and outside with the patients and providers. They are real people who genuinely care.

Every sample belongs to a patient, not an anonymous number, and patient care is the prime directive. The testing is single mindedly focused on personalized and actionable information that is revolutionizing the cancer care industry and RGCC offers a full suite of testing that allows the lab to partner with providers and patients all the way through their cancer journey.

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Is the Testing Truly Personalized?

The current cancer care paradigm is a one-size-fits-all model. It doesn’t include the patient in the equation.

The use of the word “Personalized” for marketing on cancer websites to describe cancer testing is most often a misnomer. The testing and care are personalized to the cancer, not personalized to the unique expression of the cancer cells within the patient’s unique genetic makeup and physiology. This means the “personalized” testing is not personalized at all. The information only provides options within the same one-size-fits-all model.

This is why it is important to understand what the testing is actually looking for and how the information is used in clinical practice, if at all.

RGCC specializes in truly personalized testing using information from cancer cells extracted from your blood sample. The panels give you information on the quantity of cancer cells, their behavior through your unique genetic expressions profile, and their response to a wide array of treatment options. RGCC provides comprehensive, personalized, and actionable information so you and your practitioner can create customized treatment protocols and make informed decisions about your care.

“Personalization is Power – providing comprehensive, personalized, and actionable information so you can make informed decisions.”

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Piecemeal or Partnership?

The unfortunate truth about laboratories is they don’t provide a full array of testing. They offer a single test, forcing the practitioner to piece together individual tests from different labs, using different standards and different science to gather the information they need.

RGCC offers a full suite of testing to partner with you and your provider all the way through your cancer journey. Why is this so important?

The 3 C’s – Clarity, Consistency, Cohesiveness Clarity: Having clear information about the amount of cancer, its behavior, genetic expressions that are driving your cancer and therefore giving you specific treatment options to up or downregulate those mechanisms, and knowing which chemotherapeutic and natural treatment options are effective at targeting YOUR cancer cells, is absolutely essential. You do not have time to waste.

Piecing lab tests together hoping to gather the information you need leaves you with uncertainty.

It is important to know the science and methodology being used by the labs you choose. Even when processing the same test, the techniques used by different labs to process the sample are not the same, resulting in different and non-compatible data sets. In essence, you will not be comparing apples to apples but apples to kumquats.

A specific example of this in the cancer testing world is the testing of CTCs. Most labs use a method called “Positive Selection.” This means the lab only looks for cancer cells that contain, or are positive for, a specific marker found in some, but NOT ALL cancer cell.

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The CTC count received using this methodology can be misleading, since it doesn’t account for the cancer cell sub-populations that don’t contain this marker. Taking this a step further, if the treatment you choose is effective at targeting the cells that are positive for the marker eliminating them from circulation, the follow-up testing will read “all clear” when in fact, other cancer cells without this marker are still present.

RGCC on the other hand uses a method call “Negative Selection.” This means all non-cancer cells are separated leaving ALL cancer cells, with and without the specific markers, to be counted and accounted for. This is a more precise and time-consuming method and the method used exclusively by RGCC because the lab refuses to compromise on the data and patient care. Negative selection also ensures that you can accurately read the effectiveness of a protocol post treatment, and ensures you know if non-positive cancer sub-populations are still in circulation. It also gives you a new starting point to reset your personalized protocol based on the cancer populations that are still present.

Consistency: As stated in the last section, the methods and testing techniques from lab to lab, even when doing the same testing, are not alike. This become even more of an issue when piecing together different lab tests from different labs. The testing methodologies are all over the board creating a patchwork of science and results.

RGCC offers a full suite of testing partnering with you and your provider all the way through the cancer journey. This provides consistency in the quality, the methodology, the science, the techniques used in the testing, ensuring the information you are receiving is consistent.

Cohesiveness: Working with a lab that offers a full suite of testing that partners with you through your journey provides great benefits.

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First, it is a roadmap for your care complete with timelines and protocols, so you know what to expect every step of the way. From the patient perspective, this is powerful, and empowering. The cancer care world is overwhelming and confusing. Having a system of testing that provides you with information that you need to make decisions and monitor your own progress, allows you to actively participate in your care.

Baseline testing is important to establish a starting point against which you will monitor the effectiveness of treatment protocols and your progress. I call these tests the “Patient’s Yardstick” because this is the tool that will let you know where you are every step of the way.

Gathering information that can be used to create “personalized” treatment protocols that are specific at targeting YOUR cancer cells based on their genetic and physiological expressions, behavior, and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic and natural treatment options, including heat sensitivity treatments like radiation and hyperthermia, is worth its weight in gold. No more trial and error. No more shooting in the dark and hoping you hit the target. Clear, actionable, and personalized information allows you to be confident and strategic in your care choices.

Monitoring testing is key to knowing where you are, how effective the protocol is, and helps determine what to do next. Monitoring is a powerful tool. Why? Because information is power, and the more information you have, the better able you are to navigate the care journey and make sure you are staying on an effective treatment path.

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Remission - Recurrence Prevention is often overlooked. The fear a remission patient lives with each day is “when will the cancer come back.” Or “I was told I was cancer free, but it came back. How did that happen?” This occurs because in the medical world, cancer testing technology is not sensitive enough to monitor cancer on a microscopic level. If they can’t see it, they can’t treat it. Tumors need to be big enough to be seen on imaging, but by the time it is big enough, the cancer has been there for quite a long time. Having a means to monitor cancer cells on a microscopic level is key. Not only does it allow you to feel in control and less fearful, it also lets you know at the earliest possible time that cancer may be recurring so you can be proactive and begin treatment, even if the medical community cannot help you. It puts the power and control of your care in your hands, allowing you to be your own best advocate.

These are just some of the questions to ask when evaluating cancer testing labs and the tests they offer. If you have any questions or need assistance in your research or journey, please reach out to us. We are here to help.

Your partners in health, Dr. Lauren Cohen and the entire RGCC North America Team Phone: (800) 813-1372 Website: www.MyRGCC.com Website: www.rgcc-international.com

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