Systemic enzyme therapy is a therapeutic procedure based on the oral administration of animal and plant hydrolytic enzymes. These enzymes are proteases that, as so-called biocatalysts, can cleave proteins (protein) at defined sites or decisively influence chemical reactions. Systemic enzyme therapy must be distinguished from substitutive enzyme therapy, which replaces missing enzymes, e.g. in the case of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (the pancreas loses the ability to produce enzymes such as lipase – a fat-splitting enzyme – in the case of inflammation, for example, and becomes insufficient). The principle of the method is based on the observation that tumor cells were able to multiply unhindered in the serum of patients, whereas this was not possible in the serum of healthy people. On this basis, in 1935 the scientist Max Wolf (1885-1975) used enzyme therapy to treat tumor patients. Today, enzyme therapy is a scientifically recognized therapeutic method whose goal is to influence the immune system.
Indications (areas of application)
- Arterial occlusive disease (aVK)
- Rheumatoid arthritis (synonym: chronic polyarthritis) – most common inflammatory disease of the joints.
- Inflammatory, degenerative diseases
- Diseases of the rheumatic form circle – variety of diseases, some of which are autoimmune (due to an excessive reaction of the body to its own components).
- Inflammatory edema (water retention in the tissue).
- Hematomas
- Bekhterev’s disease – ankylosing spondylitis; chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease affecting exclusively the spine and its border joints.
- Operations
- Solid tumors
- Radiation and chemotherapy – to reduce side effects.
- Viral infections
Contraindications
- Coagulation disorder (e.g., hemophilia).
- Marcumar therapy
- Known allergy to enzymes
- Impaired liver function
- Restricted kidney function
- Pregnancy
The procedure
Enzyme therapy was controversial at the beginning, because the enteral absorption (substance absorption through the mucous membrane of the digestive tract) of these high molecular weight substances was not proven. Today, this process has been scientifically confirmed. In order to make the active enzymes available for absorption in the intestine, they must survive the gastric passage undamaged. For this reason, the tablets or coated tablets are provided with an enteric coating. The intact proteolytic enzymes are transferred via the intestinal mucosa into the blood or lymph and then bound to so-called antiproteases. The activity of these substances is thus temporarily blocked and the processes of action are set in motion. The following effects of enzyme therapy are known:
- Improvement of the immune defense: antibacterial and antiviral effect.
- Improved plasma viscosity (improved flow properties of blood).
- Decreased platelet and erythrocyte aggregation – the formation of blood clots is inhibited.
- Enhanced fibrinolysis – fibrin is a structural protein that is significantly involved in the formation of blood clots; fibrinolysis is the dissolution of the fibrin scaffold and thus the clot
- Antiphlogistic effect – anti-inflammatory
- Anti-edematous effect – reduces water retention in tissues.
- Improved resorption of hematomas – large bruises form back faster
- Partial analgesic effect – pain relieving
- Improvement of tumor defense – by unmasking the tumor cells, which are difficult to recognize and destroy by the defense cells due to a protective fibrin coat.
- Metastasis prophylaxis – the spread of tumor derivatives is delayed by the degradation of adhesion molecules (attachment molecules with whose help cancer cells can freely adhere to vessels).
Since the enzymes have a very short half-life (ie they are broken down very quickly), they must be taken 2-3 times a day on an empty stomach. The enzymes can be given for a short time in high doses for acute processes and for a long time (about 3-4 weeks) in lower concentrations for chronic conditions. In addition, enzyme therapy can be administered prophylactically as a long-term medication in combination with micronutrients (vital substances).
Benefit
Enzyme therapy is a very versatile therapeutic procedure that has been scientifically proven and is used primarily in adjunctive or complementary tumor therapy. In addition, this form of therapy is also successfully applied in the field of inflammatory and degenerative diseases.