Dr. Johnston looks at laboratory research on the peptide BPC-157 in melanoma cells, and a mouse study of colon tumors and cancer-related weight and muscle loss. These are early laboratory and animal findings and do not establish safety or effectiveness in people with cancer.
Could a peptide often used for muscle and tendon injuries actually be useful in cancer? It's called BPC-157. It's a 15 amino acid peptide. Athletes often use it. Joe Rogan has talked about it extensively on his podcast.
"Peptides are getting a lot of interest now. BPC-157's all the rage." "It is." "And I had a tendinitis in my elbow that I just could not fix. I started using BPC-157. It was gone in 2 weeks."
He has urged UFC leadership to allow it for athletes, promising it'll send injured fighters back to the ring more quickly.
But cancer researchers have an interesting problem with it, because BPC-157 can improve blood vessel formation, and cancers can use this to grow. However, when they actually studied BPC-157 against melanoma cells in a laboratory, what they found was something completely different. At the concentrations of BPC-157 tested, the number of melanoma cells entering the DNA replication phase of the cell cycle dropped by about 55%. That sounds impressive, but this was cells in a laboratory, not cancer patients.
Then researchers tested BPC-157 in mice carrying colon tumors and suffering from cancer cachexia, the severe weight and muscle loss that can occur with advanced cancer. BPC-157 reduced inflammatory signals and improved the animals' weight and muscle wasting. Tumors were also smaller in the treated mice, but that difference was not statistically significant.
So BPC-157 is an interesting research peptide, and human trials are definitely warranted. Here's the research. You decide.
Educational research summary, not medical advice. Talk with your oncologist and pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any treatment or supplement.