Biohacking Cancer: A New Paradigm in Integrative Oncology
By Dr. Dan Rubin ND FABNO
AUGUST 2025
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I’ve been practicing naturopathic and integrative oncology for over 27 years, and this is what I can tell you about cancer:
Cancer does not want a future
Cancer does not follow any rules
Cancer is a big, dumb warrior
Many claim that cancer is smart; that cancerous tumors have an intelligence of sorts which needs to be outsmarted. Philosophically, there is more to uncover about the deeper understanding of cancer. Sophisticated and seemingly fancy efforts are being made to target tumors better, as so goes precision oncology or precision medicine. Yet, new targeted treatment strategies that have been identified in recent years fall short in biohacking cancer.
Cancer cells have the ability to thwart biological interruptions, propelling them to pivot their main metabolic pathways and evolve. Life seeks survival, and that very phenomenon is written into genes—even those of cancer cells.
Biohacking cancer requires that we change our target. Cancer is not a single cellular disease; rather, it is a multifactorial event that is expressed differently in each individual. It is a representation of something that lives beyond physicality and beyond general metabolic architecture. If our target is the cancerous tumor, what happens when these cells run and hide? Because they do.
Understanding cancer beyond its radiographic visibility allows us to move towards a broader definition of what it means to biohack cancer. For instance, one would not wait for a garden bed to become infested with pests before tending to the garden. Why would we treat the human body any differently? We now have a window into a world we knew was there but never could see before. Modern laboratory testing of circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA allows us to see what has always been. These tiny entities are representations of the residual disease in the body. Evidence that a new tumor is not a new occurrence or recurrence, but rather a manifestation of what was never gone in the first place.
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Climate of Physiology
Cancer cells often disseminate and hide in precarious places where they are protected. One
such reservoir is the bone marrow. Cancer stem cells are notorious for escaping both immune surveillance as well as treatment effects. Eventually, if the atmosphere and climate of the physiology are correct, these stem cells will migrate to other tissues, causing new tumors to develop sometimes long after a patient has been told they have no evidence of disease. It is reservoirs like the bone marrow that allow these stem cells to masquerade as normal stem cells, seduce the immune system, and reside there for long periods of time.
What is it that allows them to then form a community, relinquish waste, and grow? Just as the process itself is multifactorial, so is the answer.
Warriors are skilled fighters, able to pivot when needed, overcoming adversity to survive. To many, it appears that tumor cells, by thwarting treatments or evading immunity, are doing just that—surviving. I suggest that cancer is comprised largely of inept warriors, often unstable in structure and poor builders of the physical systems that would allow them to survive long term. When undisturbed, they grow to the point of disrupting the very terrain that keeps them alive. So, in the end, are these big, dumb warriors trying to kill themselves?
Could this be an inherently conserved mechanism?
The Metabolic Residuals of Something Gone Wrong
We could describe cancer in this way—the source could be neuropsychological in nature, purely metabolic, or from toxic overload. Alas, some cancers are indeed genetic, but overwhelmingly they are not. This harkens to one central tenet of naturopathic medicine: Tolle Totum, or treat the whole person. Biohacking cancer largely means biohacking the intricacy of human resilience.
The geography of the human body, mind, and spirit is home to biological processes unique to each of our experiences and exposures. It is only when we explore both the physical and non-physical aspects of being human that we can unveil cellular mechanisms gone awry. We find that the notion of resilience is familiar to everyone, and in this context, we frame creating resilience as a form of biohacking. To this end, we have developed our Resilience Model of Cancer Care™ (RMOCC), a 16-point check-in program to help one discover their resilience factors and deficiencies therein (theresiilencemodel.com):
Art
Love
Genetics
Physicality
EMF Mitigation
Nutrition Density
Movement Hours
Positive Self Avatar
Acuity of the Senses
Cognitive Motivation
Creative Visualization
Relationship with Nature
Biophysiological Balance
Remediation of infectivity
Environmental Enrichment
Human Interconnectedness
When we make strategic changes on physical and emotional levels, we essentially biohack our own biology. We create physiological environments within our cellular matrices not hospitable to cancer cells. We make it impossible for those impotent warriors to evade the immune system. We take back our power.
Through civilizations, we foster purpose through community, promoting resilience and longevity. Human interconnectedness is an important focus in the RMOCC—take blue zones, the Okinawans have a word called Ikigai, which translates to, “why I wake up in the morning.” It is rooted in a sense of purpose, a reason for being. Doing for others not only promises a future to the soul, but it also fosters important neurochemicals in the brain that could be considered a method of ongoing biohacking. In other words, improving oneself.
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A second precept of The Resilience Model is EMF (electromagnetic fields) mitigation. EMFs are integrated and woven into the fabric of our societies. How can these ubiquitous fields affect our resilience? Evidence points to whole-body consequences, including neurological, cardiac, immune, and hormonal dysregulations. Moreover, dysregulation of the normal cell cycle may lead to the development of a malignancy. This is why I trust Aries, a company dedicated to EMF diffraction, making EMFs interpretable, rather than foreign disruptors, to our cells (ariestech.com).
The RMOCC precepts reflect a sophisticated philosophy of the true biohacking of cancer. While elaborate tests, prescriptions, and integrative medical approaches seem grandiose and are considered cutting-edge, we must not overlook the simplicity of being human. This Biophysiological Balance is an important part of the formula, but not everything.
For instance, as we submerge ourselves deeper into overpopulated cities, cover our Earth’s surface with cement, and walk about it in thick-soled shoes, we become further from our natural state. Human beings are nature; as a species, we thrive in the outdoors. We have accepted 2D representations of the world in the palms of our hands on screens and have lost what may be the most key relationship paramount to our human resilience—nature bathing.
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Biohacking cancer is multifactorial. In time, it is believed that new techniques will obviate current ones as the switch from a treatment-centered/cytotoxic paradigm to a patient-centered/physiological paradigm occurs. Even with the remarkable advances that have been made in the medical sciences, we still have only glimpses into the wonderful and intricate workings of the human body. Treatments, which attempt to attack disease from without, remain—despite their increasing sophistication—blundering about in a place of marvels.
Cancer is a disease that requires individualized treatment that is as physiological as we can attain, with constant reverence for the mystery and beauty of the human body, even in illness.
From cutting-edge insights to integrative strategies with Dr. Dan Rubin, naturopathic and integrative oncology expert.
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