Antonio Brú

Antonio Brú
Born (1962-05-04)May 4, 1962
Madrid, Spain
Nationality Spain
Fields Theoretical physicist
Applied Mathematica
Institutions Complutense University of Madrid
Alma mater Complutense University of Madrid
Doctoral advisor Miguel Ángel Rodríguez

Antonio Brú Espino (born 1962) is Theoretical physicist and permanent professor in the Departament of Applied Mathematics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.[1] Brú received his PhD in 1995 from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, in physics, with advisor Miguel Ángel Rodríguez. He began his research career in 1989 at the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) in the field of anomalous transport and complex systems. In 1993, he established his own research group to study tumor growth. In 2002, he moved to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas(CSIC).

Cancer research

Brú is known for the controversy surrounding his research on cancer, which states (among other things) that:

Brú's theory stems from his mathematical research on the Fractal growth of tumour cell colonies in vitro. This growth, according to his studies, would display a set of distinct characteristics with regards to growth patterns and would imply a greater proliferation around tumour boundaries. Brú's team referred this growth pattern as the Universal Dynamics of Tumour Growth. This theory is currently recognised as one of the possible equations to describe tumour growth.

The rationale for the use of Neupogen would be that the concurrence of a massive amount of neutrophils near the edge of the tumour may result in a massive population in the concavities at the tumour edge, consequently blocking its growth. He has published his research in Europhysics Letters (2003),[2] the Biophysical Journal (2003)[3] (where he expands on the MBE theory), and in Physical Review Letters (2004).[4]

Brú reported treating two patients with G-CSF: a male with terminal hepatic cancer and a female with a Phase IV Melanoma. He published the tumour remission of the hepatocellular carcinoma patient in the Journal of Clinical Research (May 2005) 8: 9-13.,[5] a source of controversy, as the publication has no impact factor.

His alleged success on the two patients, the fact that Brú comes from the Complutense University, his collaboration with researchers from the Spanish Scientific Research Council CSIC and the San Carlos Hospital in Madrid, as well as the mix of mathematical and biological research, made his theory a breaking news event in Spain.

Brú has publicly asked for the possibility of doing clinical trials in order to confirm his results, but this has been impossible to date. It was nearly done in the Ramón y Cajal hospital[6] in Madrid, but there was no consensus due to conditions deemed unacceptable by Brú's team:

In June 2007 Brú presented a new proposal for a clinical trial to the Fundación Puigvert [7] in Barcelona for Prostate cancer,[8] but it was rejected by said Foundation.

Controversy

Brú has confronted scientific and personal attacks [9] as well as generalized media derision. The reactions of the Spanish oncology community was also negative [10][11] (the latter answered by Brú [12]) and resulted in the cancellation of scheduled conferences:[13] The pharmaceutical industry has dismissed his work, something Brú ascribes to the fear of losing the economic benefits derived from conventional treatments.

The SEOM (Spanish Association of Medical Oncology) and la AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer) have been firm in rejecting the therapy proposed by Brú. Most of the criticism is based on the following arguments:

These criticisms make no reference of the inherent difficulty of:

Most criticism stems from the oncology community and pivots on the lack of preclinical data, as well as from Biophysical experts.[18][19]

According to Brú the therapy has not been sufficiently developed due to a policy of consistent obstacles from the Spanish oncological community—obstacles which could be described as corporatism and systematic mobbing.[8][20][21]

Brú has repeatedly said that he is willing to further discuss his research as long as it solely on scientific grounds and under independent supervision.[8][20][22]

Current situation of Brú's research on cancer

According to a 2006 interview, the research by Brú's team is at risk of becoming stalled due to the obstacles posed by the medical establishment, as well as to the subsequent lack of funding.[23]

Current situation on cancer research

Discovered a new protein that boosts immunity to viruses and cancer — Imperial College London scientists have discovered a protein that plays a central role in promoting immunity to viruses and cancer, opening the door to new therapies.

— Isobel Okoye, Lihui Wang, Katharina Pallmer, Kirsten Richter, Takahuru Ichimura, Robert Haas, Josh Crouse, Onjee Choi, Dean Heathcote, Elena Lovo, Claudio Mauro, Reza Abdi, Annette Oxenius, Sophie Rutschmann & Philip G. Ashton-Rickardt.

References

  1. ↑ Antonio Brú, Ph.D. | Center for the Development of a Virtual Tumor
  2. ↑ Anomalous scaling of multivalued interfaces
  3. ↑ Buceta J, Galeano J (May 2005). "Comments on the article "The universal dynamics of tumor growth" by A. Brú et al.". Biophys. J. 88 (5): 3734–6; discussion 3737–8. Bibcode:2005BpJ....88.3734B. doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.043463. PMC 1305520. PMID 15722434.
  4. 1 2 Brú A, Albertos S, López García-Asenjo JA, Brú I (June 2004). "Pinning of tumoral growth by enhancement of the immune response". Physical Review Letters 92 (23): 238101. Bibcode:2004PhRvL..92w8101B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.238101. PMID 15245196.
  5. 1 2 Journal of Clinical Research - efficacy of new clinical interventions
  6. ↑ Hospital Ramon Cajal
  7. ↑ intro
  8. 1 2 3 http://www.mat.ucm.es/~abruespi/
  9. ↑ "Debemos velar por que no se engañe al paciente con cáncer" > elmundo.es salud
  10. ↑ EL MUNDO | Suplemento salud 627 - Autorizaciones inauditas
  11. ↑ EL MUNDO | Suplemento salud 648 - El tratamiento propuesto por Brú encierra riesgos severos
  12. ↑ http://www.mat.ucm.es/~abruespi/Indexnew.html
  13. ↑ Los oncólogos vetan una charla de Brú en un congreso médico en Ourense
  14. 1 2 3 http://www.seom.org/seomcms/images/stories/recursos/salaprensa/notasprensa/2005/notaJun05.pdf
  15. 1 2 EL MUNDO | Suplemento salud 620 - El extraño caso del profesor Brú
  16. ↑ Seglen PO (February 1997). "Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research". BMJ 314 (7079): 498–502. doi:10.1136/bmj.314.7079.497. PMC 2126010. PMID 9056804.
  17. ↑ arXiv.org help - The arXiv endorsement system
  18. ↑ http://www.exp-oncology.com.ua/en/archives/28/body548.pdf
  19. ↑ Buceta J, Galeano J (May 2005). "Comments on the article "The universal dynamics of tumor growth" by A. Brú et al.". Biophys. J. 88 (5): 3734–6; discussion 3737–8. Bibcode:2005BpJ....88.3734B. doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.043463. PMC 1305520. PMID 15722434.
  20. 1 2 Discovery Dsalud >>> Antonio Brú: "Bastaría Potenciar El Sistema Inmune Para Superar El Cáncer" <<<
  21. ↑ Antonio Brú: Aquí no se valoran 13 años de estudio intenso, sino el título de oncólogo
  22. ↑ Informativos Telecinco.com - Entrevista: Antonio Bru - Antonio Bru: "La Complutense apoyará mi investigación contra el cáncer"
  23. ↑ Antonio Brú (2006), "Me Estoy Planteando Abandonar Mis Investigaciones Experimentales Sobre Cáncer Porque No He Conseguido Dinero Para Desarrollarlas", Dsalud Nr. 102, permalink at Archive.org.
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