In 1999 the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) evaluated a cancer treatment protocol developed at the P. Banerji Homeopathic Research Foundation (PBHRF) in Kolkata, India. The ‘Banerji protocol’ used specific ultra-diluted natural substances to treat patients with different cancers. The NCI reviewed 10 patients treated on the Banerji protocol. In four of the cases with lung and esophageal cancers, the NCI confirmed partial responses. All patients reviewed had appropriate pathology and imaging studies to confirm diagnosis and response. The patients only received the remedies prescribed at the PBHRF clinic and did not receive any additional conventional treatment, such as surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. After rigorous evaluation, the NCI concluded that there was sufficient evidence of efficacy to warrant further research of the Banerji protocol.
Considering the growing interest in Banerji protocol remedies among patients at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas, most of whom have advanced breast cancer, a team of researchers decided to evaluate the in-vitro effect of those remedies.
The result of this study has just been published in the International Journal of Oncology. The study has demonstrated that four ultra-diluted homeopathic medicines exerted preferential cytotoxic effects against two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231), 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 experiments were conducted in triplicate and repeated at least twice in each case of remedy. The researchers commented that the homeopathic remedies appeared to have similar activity to the activity of paclitaxel (Taxol), the most commonly used chemotherapeutic drug for breast cancer, without the toxic effect on the normal cells. The findings demonstrate biological activity of these products when presented at ultra-diluted doses.
References:
Banerji P, Campbell DR (2008): Cancer patients treated with the Banerji protocols utilising homoeopathic medicine: A Best Case Series Program of the National Cancer Institute USA. Oncology Reports, 20: 69-74.
Frenkel M et al. (2010): Cytotoxic effects of ultra-diluted remedies on breast cancer cells. International Journal of Oncology, 36: 395-403.
