Homeopathy and cancer
Anti-proliferative effects of homeopathic medicines on human kidney, colon and breast cancer cells.
Arora S, Aggarwal A, Singla P, Jyoti S, Tandon S.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Homeopathy is controversial, due to the claims made for very high dilutions. Although several theories are proposed to understand the mechanisms of action, none are scientifically verified. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the selected homeopathic medicines in specific in vitro cancer models.
METHODS: We assessed the cytotoxic activity of selected homeopathic medicines in mother tincture (MT), and ultramolecular dilution (30C, 200C, 1M and 10M) against cell lines deriving from tumors of particular organs, Sarsaparilla (Sars) on ACHN cells (human renal adenocarcinoma), Ruta graveolens (Ruta) on COLO-205 (human colorectal carcinoma), and Phytolacca decandra (Phyto) on MCF-7 (human breast carcinoma). Sars was also tested against Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells (a non-malignant cell line). Cytotoxicity was measured using the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method, anti-proliferative activity by trypan blue exclusion assay, apoptosis determined by dual staining the cells with ethidium bromide (EB) and acridine orange (AO) dyes.
RESULTS: MTs and ultra-diluted preparations of the three homeopathic medicines had highly significant effects in the respective cancer cell lines, producing cytotoxicity and a decrease in cell proliferation. The effects were greatest with the MTs, but in all cases and persisted, although to a lesser degree in the ultra-diluted molecular preparations. Sars showed no effect on MDCK cells. In the homeopathic medicine treated cultures, hallmarks of apoptosis were evident including, cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation.
CONCLUSION: This study provides preliminary laboratory evidence indicating the ability of homeopathic medicines as anticancer agents. Further studies of the action of these homeopathic remedies are warranted.
Source : Homeopathy
Link to Abstract
Induction of Apoptosis of Tumor Cells by Some Potentiated Homeopathic Drugs:Implications on Mechanisms of Action
Preethi K, Ellanghiyil S, Kuttan G, Kuttan R.
Abstract
Homoeopathic medicines treat diseases, including cancer, using ultradiluted preparations. Earlier studies indicated that homoeopathic medicines are cytotoxic to tumor cells and reduced animal tumors. However, the mechanism of homoeopathic medicines at the cellular level is not known.
METHODS:
The following drugs were used in the study: Ruta 200C, Carcinosinum 200C, Hydrastis 200C, Thuja 200C, and Thuja 1M. These drugs were tested for their ability to induce apoptosis as seen by morphology, DNA laddering, expression of genes related to apoptosis, and TUNEL assay. Similarly, the effect of homoeopathic medicines on apoptosis was measured by microarray analysis. Activity of Ruta 200C was compared with that of the mother tincture.
RESULTS:
Ruta 200C produced morphological changes in the Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumor cells and induced DNA laddering. Carcinosinum 200C increased apoptotic gene p53 and Ruta 200C decreased antiapoptotic gene Bcl2. Administration of potentiated homoeopathic drugs to tumor-bearing mice induced TUNEL-positive cells in the tumor, showing increased apoptosis of tumor cells. Microarray analysis of cells treated with homoeopathic drugs indicated that many enzymes related to apoptosis were increased by homoeopathic drugs.
CONCLUSION: These data indicate that apoptosis is one of the mechanisms of tumor reduction of homeopathic drugs. A comparison of potentiated drugs with their mother tincture indicated that the potentiated drugs have biological activity similar to that of their mother tincture in spite of ultradilution.
- Psorinum Therapy in Treating Stomach, Gall Bladder, Pancreatic, and Liver Cancers: A Prospective Clinical Study
Aradeep Chatterjee,1 Jaydip Biswas,2 Ashim Chatterjee,1 Sudin Bhattacharya,2 Bishnu Mukhopadhyay,3 and Syamsundar Mandal2
...."The limitation of this study is that it did not have any placebo or treatment control arm; therefore, it cannot be concluded that Psorinum Therapy is effective in improving the survival and the quality of life of the participants due to the academic rigours of the scientific clinical trials. This study also cannot rule out the effects of the implemented allopathic and homeopathic supportive measures in the observed results. However, the results of the study showed a fair number of complete and partial tumor responses along with impressive survival outcomes in difficult to treat cancer types. Therefore, randomized double-blind clinical trial, detailed molecular, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics studies should be conducted for further scientific exploration of this alternative cancer treatment to determine if it can be integrated into the mainstream oncology."
- Cytotoxic effects of ultra-diluted remedies on breast cancer cells
Moshe Frenkel, Bal Mukund Mishra, Subrata Sen, Peiying Yang, Alison Pawlus, Luis Vence, Aimee Leblanc, Lorenzo Cohen, Pratip Banerji, Prasanta Banerji "In summary,
"Our study demonstrates that the ultra-diluted natural product remedies prescribed in the ‘Banerji Protocol’ induce cell cycle delay/arrest with subsequent apoptosis in breast adenocarcinoma cells. Though the degree of the antisurvival effect appeared to correlate with the presence of the wild-type p53 gene, overall susceptibility to the inhibitory effects of the remedies appeared independent of the functional p53 and estrogen-receptor status of the breast carcinoma cells. Finally, the preferentially elevated cytotoxic effects on breast adenocarcinoma cells compared with cells derived from normal mammary epithelium raises the exciting
possibility of a window of therapeutic opportunity for preferentially eliminating breast cancer cells with minimal
damage to the surrounding normal mammary tissue by using the ultra-diluted remedies investigated in this report. The findings of this study should encourage further preclinical and animal investigation of these remedies as preventive and/or therapeutic treatments for breast cancer."
- Homeopathy and Cancer - Study - Moshe Frenkel, MD
"In summary, data from multiple research disciplines, ranging from studies that evaluate the effect of homeopathic remedies on cancer cell lines to scientifically valid animal and clinical studies, raise some clues that necessitate further studies. Several published outcome studies and the randomized clinical trials mentioned in this article suggest two main results. First, the homeopathic remedies used in the clinical trials that were mentioned appear to be safe and without adverse effects. Second, there may be a role for homeopathy in improving quality of life in some cancer patients. Such effects have not been demonstrated unequivocally, and specific antitumor effects have not been shown in any controlled clinical research to date. However, the positive reports from the few laboratory experiments in cancer models that are mentioned in this review are indeed noteworthy. Appropriate clinical trials are still needed to investigate the use of homeopathy in cancer care."
- Homeopathy and cancer - article from a Newspaper in New Delhi, India on the use of homeopathy and cancer