Major Breakthroughs in Parkinson’s Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease): Biochemical Profiles & Signatures

The latest results obtained with the Cochran Regiment.

 By Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D.

            It is an immense pleasure to report that based on a several currently on-going proteomics* and biochemistry clinical studies, there now may be an effective treatment for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). However, there is even more good news. Tim Cochran, therapeutic biochemist and founder of the Cochran Foundation for Medical Research, has discovered the biochemical signatures (profiles) for Parkinson’s Disease (PD), ALS and several other diseases by using biochemical measurements not used before to identify diseases.

This discovery, through a series of simple but very advanced blood tests that confirms the presence of complicated diseases also quantifies their severity thus, permitting the monitoring of the progress in treating them. This monitoring allows fine-tuning of the treatment with essential biochemical components as cellular health is restored to normal and the conditions that allowed the disease to develop are reversed. The biochemical signatures are biomarkers that can even predict the disease’s presence or process before clinical symptoms are apparent. This is especially important, as this pre-clinical stage is where treatment can be most effective.

This demonstrates the science of the Cochran Regimen. I always make a point that science is all about measurement. Nothing is subjective in the Cochran Regimen. The Cochran Regimen is objective – measured blood and cellular deficiencies correlate with measured levels of clinical malfunction; measured improvements in blood and cellular chemistries correlate with measured improvements in clinical function; measured return to normalcy of the blood and cellular chemistries correlate with the disappearance of clinical symptoms.

The biochemical profiles measure the functionality of the individual cells. The restoration of normal cellular profiles correlate with the cellular activity associated with that measured in young adults. The Cochran Regimen restores the cellular biochemical pathways and restores the physiological pathways. By monitoring the biochemical profiles that are the signatures of these diseases, we move from merely treating diseases towards “curing.” The good news is that the experience gained so far suggests that the deficiencies observed as part of the disease profiles are “fixable.” Cochran is getting to the root cause of the diseases, not just alleviating symptoms. The conditions, progress and results can be replicated and verified independently by others merely by following the biochemical profiles.

            The real world, clinical results of the Cochran Regimen speak for themselves, but physicians and scientists like to understand what is happening. If they can’t understand how something can happen, then they tend not to believe it can happen. In this respect, physicians and scientists will be pleased to learn that we now understand more about how the Cochran Regimen works. The natural biochemical’s used in the Cochran Regimen do more than simple nourishment. There is evidence that the combination of bio-chemicals stimulates growth factors in damaged nerve cells and re-activates them. There is also suggestive evidence that the Cochran Regimen activates dormant stem cells to repair nerve networks, grow new blood vessels and repair heart damage.

            In earlier columns, Cochran has pointed out that the combination of nutrients and biochemicals is indeed more than synergistic nourishment. “It does no good to give a cell overwhelming amounts of nutrients without giving the cell the proper direction about how to use these nutrients. These directions come from hormones and the expression of genes. If you were doing maintenance work on your home and a foreman and his crew showed up to do the work, but no materials had been ordered, would anything get fixed? If the building materials were delivered, but no one showed up with the building plans to supervise the job, would it be done correctly? If the nutrients are not there along with the proper hormones and related compounds, – together -- then the cells have a harder time utilizing those nutritional resources because the cells can not communicate or express what needs to be done.”

            I have conferred with Tim Cochran almost weekly over the past seven years. We exchange notes and thoughts about the biochemistry involved and review many of the case histories on an ongoing basis. For readers who may have missed the earlier six columns beginning in March 1998, the nutrients and other natural biochemicals used in the Cochran Regimen include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and hormones. In these columns, we have described clinical trials and case reports wherein the Cochran Regimen has produced remarkable reversals in severe heart disease and PD patients, returning a high percentage of them to normal health. In this column, we will discuss for the first time, how the Cochran Regimen has slowed progression or reversed ALS. In addition, we will discuss the breakthrough research that identifies these diseases by their biochemical signatures.

Passwater: Word of your successful treatment of PD seems to be spreading.

COCHRAN:    Yes, I am sometimes contacted by as many as 10 – 15 new patients each day from word of mouth referrals, and on a couple of days each week, I’ll see Parkinson’s patients in the renowned Iacono Neuroscience Clinic in Redlands California. Dr. Robert P. Iacono is a Stereotactic Neurosurgeon specializing in Parkinson’s. He has long investigated the causes of PD and he is world famous for research and that he pioneered fetal brain grafts in 1992 and pallidotomy in 1994 to treat PD.

PASSWATER:            Is the success rate still as high as when we last discussed in the December 2000 column?

 COCHRAN:    Actually, it has improved due to being able to use my biochemical signature profiling as a tool in monitoring PD. This is due to our developments in better understanding of the genetic code and the biochemical components that are essential for that code to function normally.

 PASSWATER:            Tell us a little about that now, and then let’s discus it in detail later.

 COCHRAN:    I compile a total biochemical profile based on blood tests that include amino acids and peptides profile, a fatty acids profile, a cellular antioxidant profile, a hormone profile and a cell function profile.  The combined profiles gives a specific signature for each of the neurological diseases and other diseases like cardiovascular. It is a biochemical mapping process. Each disease has a chemical abnormal range that it operates within. These processes allow us to take a biochemical “snap shot” which is what is happening inside the patient right now. This in turn tells us not only what is going on at the gene expression level and molecular cell level, but what is going to be happening to you in the months and years to come.  

 PASSWATER:            These biochemical signatures are very interesting indeed. They represent a major advance for the medical profession. However, I’m going to have to start charging you rent for all of the space that is taken up in my research center with your case histories and test results. Another interesting thing that I am noticing, is since you started working with Dr. Iacono, Dr. Blank, Dr. Hansen and others, is that more and more physicians, dentists and scientists are being treated with the Cochran Regimen.

COCHRAN:    Treating of physicians is one of the best way to get them to understand. People get glossy-eyed when I explain the biochemistry, of molecular cell structure and repair, molecular genetic, gene repression, termination, anti-termination, required initiation, codons sites with Hydrophobic or Polar or positive charge Basic locations codes of required amino acids that are mandatory for either repair or cell genesis. They are often still skeptical after seeing the clinical studies and even seeing the before and after videotapes. But, when a professional personally experiences the progress themselves, they become avid supporters.

 PASSWATER:            Let’s give our readers an example. I haven’t presented an ALS case history in this series before. ALS is a fatal disease with no known cure or effective treatment.

 Although your success with some ALS patients has been dramatic, I felt that the number of cases was too small to risk falsely raising expectations. Success with the first few ALS patients can quickly be erased with a series of non-responders. But, I am more comfortable with the number of cases now. Yet, we must keep in mind that these results are still considered preliminary. I have followed the progress of Dr. Ronald Blank, a Department Chair and Associate Professor at a leading School of Dentistry. In addition to reviewing his reports, I have chatted with him on three occasions. 

Dr. Blank told me of the initial shock of the diagnosis and that he found that modern medical profession’s approach to the ALS patient was to support them as they prepare to die. His future was to anticipate a progressive loss of motor function, paraplegia, quadriplegia, gastric tube feedings, a respirator and then death from related complications. He did not welcome this as his future.

 PASSWATER:         When was Dr. Blank diagnosed as having ALS?

 COCHRAN:    On April 11, 2001 at age 50.

 PASSWATER:            When did you first see him and what was his condition?

 COCHRAN:    I first saw him in early May 2001. His condition was what is considered stage one ALS.  He had symptoms of speech difficulty, right arm and hand weakness, fatigue, and muscle cramping.

 PASSWATER:            How did he respond to the Cochran Regimen?

 COCHRAN:    Within a few weeks, he experienced dramatic improvement. He had increased strength and endurance, improved speech, and an overall improved sense of well being. He states that these improvements were readily apparent to his family, friends and colleagues. His breathing capacity improved from 82% to 91% and his swallowing ability improved. His neurologist has found no significant ALS progression after nine months and the disease appears stabilized. He still has some stress related fatigue and occasional muscle cramping.

 PASSWATER:            How is he doing today?

 COCHRAN:    He is essentially stabilized and looking forward to enjoying his family and continuing to educating his students and further contributing to his profession. His ability to swallow foods, drink liquids, take medication and his speech ability has returned pretty close to normal. He still has some stress related fatigue, but it appears that the disease has stabilized in its early stage. We now have been able to study his biochemical signature and his profile state.  This biochemical mapping is enabling us to be proactive and aggressive in the development of new treatments, based on the patient’s exact needs.

 PASSWATER:            Dr. Blank really sounds grateful for a second chance when I chat with him. Now tell us a little more about your breakthrough with biochemical profiling of these diseases. I note that amino acids and peptides are a major part of the biochemical profiles.

 COCHRAN:    People tend to think primarily in terms of vitamins and minerals when it comes to cellular biochemistry, but the actual driving force – the actual engine that pushes these nutrients into place and catalyzes the biochemical reactions so that the cell can function is driven by the amino acids and peptides that form critical enzymes and are involved in the expression of the genes.  I look at 40 amino acids and peptides, all essential for correct cell function and replication. The signature for PD is that only three amino acids will usually be at optimal levels and that nine will be at 3 –5 times below normal, sometimes 22 to 25 times below normal! The remaining 28 amino acids and peptides will be in the 5% lower percentile of the normal range and/or 50 to 75% below optimal range. Optimal range is where these components need to be in order for your physiological systems to carry out all proper cell genesis and replication, repair on-going cell structure and for correct effectiveness in cellular function.     

 PASSWATER:            I am not going to mention which amino acids and peptides are in which category – even though I have the charts in front of me – because I don’t want to jeopardize your medical journal publications being accepted. Most journals won’t accept submitted articles that include information released previously to the public first.  But, let’s make the significance of the of the biochemical signatures clear. If I send you blood drawn from 50 PD patients, would all 50 have the same biochemical pattern?

 COCHRAN:    Each and every one would have a very similar biomarker profile with a ratio range of marked resemblance.

 PASSWATER:            How about ALS patients?

 COCHRAN:    ALS patients usually have a very significantly distinct pattern or profile. Once it a great while we will find an optimal normal in single a component that is a biomarker, but the rest of the grouping would still show the similar defect signature.

 PASSWATER:            And if I send you blood pulled from 50 people, some of whom are healthy, some who have PD and others who have ALS or Cardiovascular disease, can you tell me who is who just by looking at the biochemical profiles from their blood analysis?

 COCHRAN:    Yes, their biomarkers in the blood and cells will tell us who has which disease and who is healthy. But, keep in mind that even some of the healthy persons may have pre-clinical conditions that are not yet apparent as diseases because symptoms aren’t yet manifested. The defective biomarker levels tell us what is no longer available, what is missing. It shows us what is or will happen if not corrected immediately. How long a patient has to run at these negative levels before the disease start expressing itself is still under study. But we have patients that are in their late 30’s that are in sever disease condition that show the same profiles as patients with the same disease and that are in their late 70’s.

 PASSWATER:            Just to give our readers a visual aid to relate to the biochemical signatures, I have drawn a simplified profile for a healthy person, a PD patient and an ALS patient. In the healthy person, the levels of the few biochemicals that I included are within the normal range. In the PD patient, there are nine amino acids that are very much below the normal range. In the ALS patient, there are different amino acids that are extremely low. Of course, in the real biochemical signatures of the diseases, you utilize many more biomarkers.

 COCHRAN:    Your profile chart is indeed simplified, but it makes the point.

Dick – where is the chart??

 PASSWATER:            So the blood and cellular function biochemical profiles start changing before the diseases are apparent?

 COCHRAN:    Yes. This is the most vital time to collect biomarker information as we can reverse the disease process before great damage occurs and prevent the disease manifestation. We have started running tests on patients families, Father and Mother have neurological problems and their children are in their forty’s. We have the parent’s conditions in their late 70’s and their disease condition profiles. Their middle age children are developing right now some of the same abnormal molecular defects. The children are much easier to correct in the present situation, as 35 years haven’t passed by with on going daily compounding deficiency. They are lacking biochemical components that are necessary and essential for correct gene translation and expression and cellular operation and function.

 PASSWATER:            And, can you follow changes in the biochemical signature during treatment to monitor the progress?

 COCHRAN:    Yes. Let me give you an example. You just described the progress of ALS patient Dr. Blank. He had a problem closing (shutting) and contracting his right hand, (making a fist). He was taking the modified Cochran Regimen, but his tests were showing that he was especially low in isoleucine and still moderately low in leucine, methionine, aspartic acid and aspagine. When I increased the dosage of these amino acids, within two days he was able to close and open his hand and make a fist normally.  We could have never figured this out if we had not developed the biochemical mapping technology.  No one could have known that these were at critically abnormal levels with regards to these biochemical components.

 PASSWATER:            Did the biochemical profile improve after this adjustment?

 COCHRAN:    Yes, this is a minor illustration of the advantage of actually seeing the biochemical profiles of the diseases, and then directly impacting the diseases by forcing the profile to change towards a normal profile by adding the proportionate amounts of the appropriate biochemicals, along with the cofactors needed to force the cells to take up these nutrients and incorporate them into cellular function and utilize them into genetic expression. We find a very high percentage of patients are Vitamin B-12 deficient. But there are amino acids that are essential for movement of B-12 into the cell. You may be taking all the vitamins in the world, but they must have correct amounts of amino acids to work properly. If you look at your dry weight, after water is removed from your physical body, 83% of it is made up of Amino Acids, Fatty Acids, DNA and RNA.  Vitamins make up less than 1%. Minerals – molecular marriage of amino acids for structure and function equals 5%. The rest are Sugars and Carbohydrates.

 PASSWATER:            So not all patients improve the same rate when given the Cochran    Regimen, some biochemical individuality is observed.

 COCHRAN:    Some patients still lag in their response as seen by the biochemical profiles for their particular disease. However, when increasing the amount of these particular amino acids and/or their cofactors -- in the Cochran Regimen it is like revitalizing them. To increase the cellular levels of a particular amino acid, it is not always a simple case of increasing that amino acid in the Regimen. As an example, to increase the intracellular glutathione, six other cofactors are required. Without these six other required cofactors, glutathione levels in your cells can’t increase and be kept at required normal levels.

 PASSWATER:            Let’s look at the cause and effect here. Your observations beg the question, which is the result of which. Do the low levels of biochemicals in the cells cause the disease or does the disease cause the low levels associated with the disease?

COCHRAN:    When you supplement the patients with the essential biochemicals they are deficient in, their blood and cell levels increase only slowly. It’s as if they do not absorb the nutrients correctly or their bodies consume an inordinate amount of them.

            The difference is important. If the body absorbs them poorly, this may be a causative factor in the development of the disease. On the other hand, if their bodies consume an inordinate amount, this implies that it is an effect of the disease rather than a causative factor. It is too early to tell which it is yet, but there is support for both. Maybe it is even that both or either are involved. I see a lot of constipation, parasites, gut leakage, mold and yeast infections in the small intestinal track of patients.

PASSWATER:            This is the same question that I ran into with my early selenium and cancer research. There was a strong association between low levels of selenium in the blood and the incidence and severity of cancer. Increasing the amount of selenium in the diet reduced the cancer incidence, but the reduction doesn’t occur until the blood levels reach a certain level. It is not what goes into the mouth, but what gets into the cells. In the case of selenium and cancer, it was both. Selenium deficiency permits cancer to develop and cancer consumes more selenium.

COCHRAN:    Yes, diseases such as cancer and neurological diseases themselves increase the oxidative burden on the body and increase the oxidative stress. As I mentioned, I measure the antioxidant levels in the cells. An interesting observation is that the antioxidant levels in the cells of those with neurological diseases are depressed until after I normalize the amino acids, peptides and essential fatty acids profiles.  Taking antioxidant nutrients helps reduce the oxidative stress within the cells, but measurable improvements or partial recovery doesn’t occur until after the amino acids, peptides and essential fatty acids profiles are normalized.

            Here’s how it typically works. At initial treatment the antioxidant levels within the cells are about 20% of normal. After three months of treatment, the antioxidant levels within the cells are typically about 40-45% of normal, and after six months on the Cochran Regimen, the cellular antioxidant levels are typically about 75% - 95% of cellular function. Any percentage above 75% is considered normal.   When they reach this level or higher, I begin to see great improvements in cellular function.

PASSWATER:            You are emphasizing that you are measuring cellular antioxidant functions and not blood or plasma antioxidant levels.

COCHRAN:    Our laboratory separates the white blood cells from the blood, washes away everything else, then all the white blood cells are cultured in a medium.  They are then exposed to verity and increasing levels of free radicals. The white blood cells are tested against their ability to defend themselves and their responses are measure. These measurements tell us the total (combined) antioxidant power of the numerous antioxidants within your cells.

  PASSWATER:            Although you see almost immediate improvement – within days to a couple of weeks – with the Cochran Regimen, you continue to see improvement as the amino acid and antioxidant levels are moved towards normal within the cells.

 COCHRAN:    Yes. It is when we get the amino acids, fatty acids and antioxidants within the cells near normal – above 75% of normal, that cellular function finally gets back to working normally. Then the body on its own increases hormone levels back towards normal and I can reduce the amount of hormones added as part of the Cochran Regimen. Over the course of six-to-twelve months the disease is not only halted, but is often reversed.  The biochemical profiles further improve from those typical for an aged person to those of a health young adult. Other indicators such as immune function improve at the same time. For the very best results, catching the disease in the very early stages or before it gets started is the best option. Doing prevention screening and starting a protocol ahead of time is the best course of action for anyone over the age of 30 years old.   

 PASSWATER:            Let’s discuss a little bit about what is happening to cell function. One benefit of optimizing cell conditions may be the activation of growth factors.

 COCHRAN:    That’s one possible mechanism. The nerve cells in PD and ALS are damaged but not dead. They may quit functioning and revert to an immature cell structure similar to an earlier stage of development, more like an embryonic stage. By activating the growth factors in these cells, normal cell function returns and new circuits of nerve cells can form.

 PASSWATER:            Independent support for this possibility is now coming from researchers at the University of Houston. They have now shown that faulty circuits can be jump-started in damaged nerve cells when the growth factors are stimulated by ion channel proteins. (Dryer, J. Neuroscience 1/1/02). You are also getting independent verification that stem cells can be activated to repair organs such as the heart.

 COCHRAN:    The common wisdom had been that the heart couldn’t repair itself. Many cardiologists would scoff when I showed them my results showing heart function returning to normal in people who were once almost dead. Most scientists have overlooked the fact that there are sufficient stem cells in every organ. These stem cells may be reactivated by supplying the proper chemical commands, instructions and materials given in the Cochran Regimen.

 PASSWATER:            Well, you may have started a biochemical revolution. I know that researchers at the New York Medical College have found that stem cells harbored in the heart can be stimulated to regenerate heart tissue, both muscle cells and blood vessels. (Anversa, New Engl. J. Med. 01/03/02).  Recently, researchers have found that nutritional deficiencies, such as folic acid, can lead to the type of damaged brain cells observed in PD.

 COCHRAN:    Yes, a host of nutrients have been shown to lead to this specific damage. You are probably referring to the report by Dr. Mark Mattson of the National Institute on Aging that showed that low folic acid levels allows increased homocysteine levels which in turn cause the damaged nerve cells observed in PD. (Mattson, J. Neuroscience 2002; 80:101-110) But, the various biochemical’s should not be studied only in isolation. They work together to protect the brain cells as well as maintain their proper function ability. But the important point is that the Cochran Regimen goes beyond nourishment and protection – it involves restoring cellular function via correcting the biochemical profiles of the damaged cells and protecting healthy cells against present and future damage.

 PASSWATER:              And that is Nobel Prize caliber discovery.  Thank you for sharing your biochemical breakthroughs with us. You can reach the Cochran Foundation of Medical Research through their website: www.CochranFoundation.Org

This article is copyrighted and may not be re-produced in any form (including electronic) without the written permission of the copyright owners.

Send mail to webmaster@cochranfoundation.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2002 cochranfoundation
Last modified: October 14, 2002