FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, September 1, 2025

Cancer's True Origins: Aneuploidy? Mitochondrial Dysfunction? Or Something Deeper?

by Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D
Editor-in-Chief, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

Editor's Note - OMNS receives many thoughtful reader questions, but our current platform doesn't support public Q&A. To foster more dialogue, I'll share selected letters and replies on my Substack (👉 https://substack.com/@rzchengmd). OMNS will continue publishing articles from our editors and authors; this Substack Q&A is simply a complementary channel. I hope OMNS will add interactive features in the future so all editors can join the conversation. - Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief

Highlights from a Debate Between Dr. Richard Z. Cheng and Dr. David Rasnick

On August 21, 2025, the Children's Health Defense (CHD) PCR Working Group hosted a landmark debate on cancer's origins, featuring Dr. Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D. (Editor-in-Chief of OMNS) and Dr. David Rasnick, Ph.D. (biochemist and author of The Chromosomal Imbalance Theory of Cancer).

The central question: What causes cancer? Is it a disease of DNA mutations (Somatic Mutation Theory, SMT), a result of chromosomal chaos (aneuploidy), or a consequence of mitochondrial dysfunction as Otto Warburg proposed?

The recording of this debate can be accessed here:
🔗 Watch the recording
Passcode: F8!PWVe1

Correction Note: Slide 2.4 contains an error. The correct figure is that cancer research funding has increased 1,200% since the 1971 War on Cancer.

Note: This recording was originally provided to the CHD PCR Working Group members and is shared here with permission for educational purposes.)

Beyond Mechanisms: Root Drivers vs. Downstream Effects

While Dr. Rasnick focused on aneuploidy and Dr. Cheng highlighted mitochondrial dysfunction, both agreed that cancer cannot be reduced to random mutations alone.

Dr. Cheng argued that SMT, aneuploidy, and mitochondrial collapse are all downstream mechanisms - important for understanding cancer's developement, but not its true origins.

Instead, the upstream modifiable root biological drivers are what destabilize the cellular terrain - including environmental toxins, poor diet and metabolic stressors, micronutrient deficiencies, chronic infections, hormonal/endocrine disruption, and more (Cheng, 2025, manuscript in submission).

The Ten Root Biological Drivers

Dr. Cheng has developed a systematic model identifying ten categories of root biological drivers that precede and trigger downstream mechanisms like mitochondrial collapse and chromosomal instability.

"Aneuploidy and mitochondrial dysfunction are not competing causes of cancer, but consequences of deeper initiating drivers. Unless medicine addresses these root causes, oncology will remain trapped in downstream firefighting," Cheng noted.

The full framework of the Ten Root Biological Drivers is detailed in Dr. Cheng's forthcoming manuscript, currently in submission. This work integrates decades of clinical, biochemical, and epidemiological evidence into a model that redefines cancer as a terrain disease - one that emerges from systemic biological stressors, not isolated genetic accidents. This perspective carries profound implications for clinical medicine, shifting treatment away from chasing downstream genetic changes toward correcting upstream drivers that are modifiable through nutrition, detoxification, lifestyle, and low-toxicity interventions. It also impacts public health policy, underscoring the urgent need to reduce population exposure to toxins, improve nutritional sufficiency, and promote preventive strategies that address the true origins of cancer.

Toward Integrative Solutions

This shift in perspective has practical consequences. If cancer is terrain-driven, then therapies should focus on restoring the terrain:

• Restricted ketogenic diets to reverse metabolic instability
• High-dose intravenous vitamin C (HDIVC) and other orthomolecular therapies
• Micronutrient repletion (vitamin D3, K2, magnesium, selenium, niacin, omega-3s)
• Mitochondrial restoration therapies (e.g., photobiomodulation, CoQ10, PQQ, carnitine, and selected metabolic agents such as methylene blue)
• Detoxification and infection control
• Immune modulation and regenerative medicine

These interventions are consistent with the Triple Principle Intervention Model (TPIM):

1. Safety,
2. Effectiveness (or probable effectiveness), and
3. Affordability and accessibility.

Why This Debate Matters

Despite decades of research and $60+ billion annually in oncology drug spending, most cancer drugs extend life by only 2-4 months, often with severe toxicity. This failure stems from focusing on downstream mechanisms while neglecting upstream root causes.

The Rasnick-Cheng debate highlights both the richness of scientific inquiry and the urgency of a paradigm shift: from mechanism-centric oncology to root-cause terrain medicine.

The Path Forward: Reforming Clinical Trials

One clear outcome of this debate is that cancer cannot be solved by continuing the same narrow research model. Current randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are mostly designed to test single drugs against single targets - a framework that cannot address systemic terrain disorders driven by multiple root causes.

A reformed model is needed: one that embraces integrative, multi-modal interventions (nutritional, metabolic, detoxification, immune, regenerative) and reflects the real-world complexity of cancer patients.

Dr. Cheng and colleagues have proposed the Integrative Cancer Metabolic Trial (ICMT) as such a framework: adaptive platform designs, real-world patient inclusion, and root-cause based, low-toxicity strategies. Only through such reformed trials can medicine truly evaluate therapies that restore health at the terrain level.

Conclusion

Cancer's true origins are found upstream. SMT, aneuploidy, and mitochondrial dysfunction are essential to study, but they are expressions of the disease, not its initiating drivers. The ten root biological drivers framework (Cheng, manuscript in submission) provides a more complete model - and a roadmap for prevention, management, and reversal.

About the Author

Richard Z. Cheng, M.D., Ph.D. - Editor-in-Chief, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

Dr. Cheng is a U.S.-based, NIH-trained, board-certified physician specializing in integrative cancer therapy, orthomolecular medicine, functional & anti-aging medicine. He maintains active practices in both the United States and China.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and a Hall of Fame inductee of the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine, Dr. Cheng is a leading advocate for nutrition-based, root-cause health strategies. He also serves as an expert reviewer for the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, and co-founded both the China Low Carb Medicine Alliance and the Society of International Metabolic Oncology.

Dr. Cheng offers online Integrative Orthomolecular Medicine consultation services.
📰 Follow his latest insights on Substack: https://substack.com/@rzchengmd

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Jennifer L. Aliano, M.S., L.Ac., C.C.N. (USA)
Albert G. B. Amoa, MB.Ch.B, Ph.D. (Ghana)
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Ilyès Baghli, M.D. (Algeria)
Greg Beattie, Author (Australia)
Barry Breger, M.D. (Canada)
Ian Brighthope, MBBS, FACNEM (Australia)
Gilbert Henri Crussol, D.M.D. (Spain)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA)
Ian Dettman, Ph.D. (Australia)
Susan R. Downs, M.D., M.P.H. (USA)
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Hugo Galindo, M.D. (Colombia)
Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D. (USA)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
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Dwight Kalita, Ph.D. (USA)
Felix I. D. Konotey-Ahulu, M.D., FRCP (Ghana)
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Juan Manuel Martinez, M.D. (Colombia)
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Pawel Pludowski, M.D. (Poland)
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Richard Cheng, M.D., Ph.D. (USA), Editor-In-Chief
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