Immunoassay
In this video, Efren Navarro spends about 26 minutes speaking on "Immunoassay" at the 27th Annual Cancer Convention held on Labor Day weekend by the Cancer Control Society.
About Efren Navarro
EFREN NAVARRO, M.D., University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, The Philippines, performed his residency at Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Chicago, and in 1994 became a Hematopathology Fellow at the University of Illinois.
In 1996, he returned to the Philippines to continue the work of his father, Manuel Navarro, M.D., developer of the controversial Beta HGC Immunoassay Test for Cancer. The Navarro's say the urine test detects the presence of the substance "HCG," indicating the presence of cancer cells before signs or symptoms develop.
The test is based on a theory that cancer is related to misplaced trophoblast cells that secrete HCG. As a consequence, Dr. Navarro says that a measure of the amount of HCG found in blood or urine also measures the degree of malignancy. The higher the number, the greater the malignancy. He also says that cancer patients can use the test to measure the effectiveness of any therapy.
Published papers on the HCG Immuno Assay Test include: A Screening Test for Malignancy, Journal of the Philippine Medical Association, Manuel Navarro, M.D., 1965. Immunological Test for Cancer, Santo Tomas Journal of Medicine, Vol. XXI, No. 6-Nov./Dec. 1966, Manuel Navarro, M.D. HCG As A Specific Marker in Malignancy, Book of Abstracts of the 4th International Symposium for the Prevention and Detection of Cancer, London, England, Manuel Navarro, M.D., July 26-31, 1980. Studies on the Sensitiveness of Radioimmunoassay (RIA), Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) and Urinary HCG Immunoassay in the Detection of Beta HCG, Journal of Nutrition, Growth and Cancer, Manuel Navarro, M.D. Ectopic Production of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) by Neoplasms: The Value of Measurements of Immunoreactive hCG in the Urine as a Screening Procedure, University of Athens School of Medicine, Greece, P.D. Papapetrou, M.D., May 23, 1979. Reprinted by the American Cancer Society in Cancer 1980. HCG-Immunoassay for the Early Detection of Cancer, Acta Manilana, Ser A 20(30) pp. 12-21, Efren Navarro, M.D., 1981.
Transcription
Dr. Efron Novarro, son of Manuel.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Thank you.
It's a great pleasure for me to speak at this convention and especially to this audience here. And for this opportunity, I am very grateful. Today, I know to most Americans, this is Memorial Day weekend, and I'm trying to bring out something from the past. And maybe this isnt an appropriate time to do that, but let me point out that at the present time, this test continues to be done in the Philippines. It's been a while since my father, the late Dr. Manuel Navarro recentered a talk on this subject matter.
How the Test Was Developed
There may be some of you, may be a small percentage of you here in the audience who have benefited from the use of this marker to guide them in their illness. And to note the efficacy of the treatment that they received. For many however, many of you here have come here for the first time, and this will be something strange. In the use of markers in medical oncology, there's a specific marker for a specific cancer. The same is true for hCG as is used by Orthodox Oncology; hCG being a specific marker for choriocarcinoma or some testicular tumors? My father, however have developed this test not only for those specific malignancies, but also for cancers in general. His voice was one of the few that promoted the use of hCG as a general marker.
Skepticism was his constant companion. And I remember my brother and my sister when we heard the word "quack" around the house when I was in elementary high school and even my pre-med days. However, as scientific articles slowly appeared, vindication finally began to replace this skepticism, especially when two major articles came into the forefront to echo the same message; hCG is a specific marker for malignancy, and hCG is a sensitive indicator of primary and metastatic tumor, even though it may be undetected clinically. So it's my task today to again voice out that same message, that hCG can be used as a marker for all types of malignancy.
So to begin, I will present notable personages who have made contributions to the development of the test. And we will then go on to discuss the basic structure of what we're looking at, namely the hCG molecule. It is only noteworthy to cite. The trophoblastic theory of cancers, since this was the basis of the test, although this may be controversial, but I will try to expound this later.
The next series of discussions will entail the test itself from specimen collection down to interpretation of results and finally, I'll