RGCC test

The RGCC blood-test, also known as "the Greek test" or "the Greece test", is a blood-test purportedly to determine which chemotherapy agent would be most effective in a person with cancer, i.e. a chemosensitivity test.File:Wikipedia's W.svg The name is the forced acronym "Research Genetic Cancer Centre",[1] any resemblance to the RGCC geneFile:Wikipedia's W.svg responsible for controlling the rate of cell-division is of course purely coincidental.

The RGCC USA team
Against allopathy
Alternative medicine
Clinically unproven
v - t - e

Supposed method of operation

Allegedly the tests involve isolating the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples, (which are typically ~1 per billion cells in the blood of people with cancer). RCGG claim they capture the CTCs and rapidly culture them to massively increase their quantity using patented-technology, which they have invented, and only they possess. The cultured cancer cells are then tested against various agents, including "natural substances", to see which is most effective at killing them.

Patently untrue

The RGCC test is only carried out in Greece, however the blood they purportedly test is not just Greek: 25mL samples from across the world[2] are sent there to be analysed. The inventor of the RGCC test is Dr. Ioannis Papasotiriou,[3] who reportedly holds a patent on the process.[4] However, a (2019) patent-search for his name only gives one result: a patent for a proposed cancer-treatment,[5] which is not a patent for a blood-test or patent for a method of cell-culture.

Daily speed-limit
RGCC claim to generate "trillions" of cells from less than 200 cells, in less than 36 hours.
RGCC International network of (sales) representatives & clinics.

The American agent for RGCC, a chiropractor named Dr Ray Hammon,[6] states that their chemosensitivity test involves extracting the "5-200" circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from the 25mL of blood submitted, and culturing those approximately 100 cells up to a population of "trillions" in "just 24-36 hours".[7] Finding the "5-200" needles in the haystack that is a 25mL blood sample, would be very difficult, but not impossible.[8] Whereas producing "trillions" of cancer cells from approximately 100 cells in "just 24-36 hours" is impossible. Dozens of cancer cell-lines are known, their typical doubling-time is approximately daily,[9] i.e. the number of cells doubles every 24 hours: if you started with 100 cells, after 1 day you'd have 200 cells, after 2 days 400, after 3 days 800, et cetera. It would take 34 days to reach a "trillion" cells. (In 2013 a laboratory grew a few cow-muscle cells into a beef-burger: the quarter-pounder only contained about 1/10th of a trillion cells, but took three months to grow in the lab[10] and cost over $300K).

Notably, a blood test will not detect tumor cells unless it is a blood-borne cancer (generally leukemia or lymphoma), or the cancer has metastasized into the blood from its original organ.

The RGCC chemosensitivity test allegedly evaluates the efficacy of so-called "natural substances", as well as pharmaceutical chemotherapy agents. According to RGCC the category of "natural substances" includes these patent-medicines:

  • Aromat8-PN™
  • Artecin®
  • Bio-D-Mulsion®
  • NuMedica Micellized D3®
  • Meriva®
  • Intenzyme Forte™
  • Mammary PMG®
  • Nrf2 Activator™
  • Retenzyme Forte®
  • Salicinium™
  • Thymex®
  • Virxcan™

That the test specifies those patent-medicines explains why the RGCC test is only used by integrative-practitioners; they are the only group who would offer those unproven treatments.

As no laboratory could culture sufficient tumor cells to perform the 100+ tests within the turnaround time, the results of the RGCC chemosensitivity test could just be a form-letter[13] recommending to the integrative-practitioner that they prescribe whatever potion they have a surfeit of.

As of 2016, costs for the RGCC chemosensitivity tests range from $1824 to $3126.[14]

gollark: This is not very accurate, though.
gollark: In a market, if people don't want kale that much, the kale company will probably not have much money and will not be able to buy all the available fertilizer.
gollark: You can just hand out what some random people think is absolutely *needed* first, then stick the rest of everything up for public use, but that won't work either! Someone has to decide on the "needed", so you get into a planned-economy sort of situation, and otherwise... what happens when, say, the community kale farm decides they want all the remaining fertilizer, even when people don't want *that* much kale?
gollark: Planned economies, or effectively-planned-by-lots-of-voting economies, will have to implement this themselves by having everyone somehow decide where all the hundred million things need to go - and that's not even factoring in the different ways to make each thing, or the issues of logistics.
gollark: Market systems can make this work pretty well - you can sell things and use them to buy other things, and ultimately it's driven by what consumers are interested in buying.

See also

References
  1. The meaning of R.G.C.C. acronym, according to its inventor.
  2. RGCC's International Network, (click on image to enlarge).
  3. Ioannis Papasotiriou listed as managing director of RGCC Central Europe & Hallwang Clinic.
  4. Dr. Ioannis Papasotiriou introduced as "patent holder" of RGCC test.
  5. Patent search for "Ioannis Papasotiriou".
  6. Personnel in the RGCC branch office in the USA.
  7. USA agent for RGCC writes "trillions in just 24-36 hours".
  8. Proven tests exist to isolate (count) the number of CTCs in blood, (most damage cell viability).
  9. List of 60 human cancer cell-lines, (doubling-times in hours)
  10. The test-tube-burger took three months to grow.
  11. Dr Papasotiriou worked for "Nerium", who makes Anvirzel™
  12. CV247 invented by a veterinarian.
  13. Fill-in the blanks with your details and save thousands.
  14. R.G.C.C. Blood Analysis via CancerCenterForHealing in California.
  15. Laura says Dr Burzynski is a brave maverick doctor with the cure for cancer.
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