186: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE - Episode 186186: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE - Episode 186
UK Health Radio Podcast
Robin Daly talks with Professor Angus Dalgleish about three low-cost interventions he believes can significantly shift cancer outcomes: vitamin D correction, immune stimulants based on heat-killed mycobacteria, and low-dose naltrexone. The conversation questions current oncology practice and pharma priorities while focusing on practical steps that might help people facing cancer.
43:16•20 Aug 2026
Three Low-Cost Game Changers for Cancer Care with Prof Angus Dalgleish
Episode Overview
- Maintaining adequate vitamin D levels is presented as crucial for effective responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy, particularly in pancreatic cancer.
- Heat-killed mycobacteria are described as powerful immune stimulants that can restore innate immunity and improve responses to modern checkpoint inhibitors.
- Age-related decline of the innate immune system is linked with rising cancer incidence, suggesting benefits from strategies that boost this arm of immunity.
- The story of thalidomide and the development of lenalidomide highlights how older drugs can be reworked into major cancer treatments despite initial prejudice.
- Low-dose naltrexone is discussed as a repurposed drug that may reduce inflammation, affect cancer growth pathways and sensitise tumours to chemotherapy.
“If you have a low vitamin d you will not respond to any chemotherapy agent ever given for pancreatic cancer. You are wasting your time.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and serious illness? This Yes To Life Show episode on UK Health Radio focuses firmly on cancer, but anyone interested in integrative, patient-centred care will feel right at home. Host Robin Daly MBE chats with oncologist and immunotherapy pioneer Professor Angus Dalgleish, who shares what he calls three “nuggets of gold” for people with cancer.
The tone is frank, sometimes shocking, and often very funny in that dry, British way – you’ll hear both scientific detail and the odd raised eyebrow at the medical establishment. First up is vitamin D. Dalgleish explains how his research linked good outcomes from immunotherapy and chemotherapy to adequate vitamin D levels, recalling a US colleague’s reaction: “If you have a low vitamin d you will not respond to any chemotherapy agent ever given for pancreatic cancer.
You are wasting your time.” He’s crystal clear that checking and correcting deficiency is, in his view, basic cancer care that’s still being missed. The second nugget is heat‑killed mycobacteria as an immune stimulant to wake up the innate immune system, which naturally declines with age. Dalgleish describes striking responses when this is combined with modern checkpoint inhibitors and his frustration at big pharma rejecting it because it’s cheap and “not high tech enough”.
Finally, he talks about low‑dose naltrexone (LDN) as a repurposed drug with anti‑inflammatory and anti‑cancer potential, including sensitising tumours to chemotherapy and helping switch off key inflammatory pathways. Throughout, Robin keeps the conversation grounded in what this all might mean for real people trying to improve their chances with cancer, asking the questions you’d probably ask yourself.
If you’re curious about practical, lower‑cost additions to conventional treatment, this conversation might leave you wondering: what simple things are being overlooked in your own care?
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