Although conventional chemotherapies are used to treat patients with malignancies, damage to normal cells is problematic. Blood-forming bone marrow cells are the most adversely affected. It is therefore necessary to find alternative agents that can kill cancer cells but have minimal effects on normal cells. We investigated the brain cancer cell-killing activity of a homeopathic medicine, Ruta, isolated from a plant, Ruta graveolens. We treated human brain cancer and HL-60 leukemia cells, normal B-lymphoid cells, and murine melanoma cells in vitro with different concentrations of Ruta in combination with Ca 3 (PO 4) 2. Fifteen patients diagnosed with intracranial tumors were treated with Ruta 6 and Ca 3 (PO 4) 2. Of these 15 patients, 6 of the 7 glioma patients showed complete regression of tumors. Normal human blood lymphocytes, B-lymphoid cells, and brain cancer cells treated with Ruta in vitro were examined for telomere dynamics, mitotic catastrophe, and apoptosis to understand the possible mechanism of cell-killing, using conventional and molecular cytogenetic techniques. Both in vivo and in vitro results showed induction of survival-signaling pathways in normal lymphocytes and induction of death-signaling pathways in brain cancer cells. Cancer cell death was initiated by telomere erosion and completed through mitotic catastrophe events. We propose that Ruta in combination with Ca 3 (PO 4) 2 could be used for effective treatment of brain cancers, particularly glioma.

Although many studies have been conducted on the role of alternative medicine in the treatment of cancer, only a few reports have been published regarding the total regression of malignant tumors. At the PBH Research Foundation (PBHRF), two of the authors have used homoeopathic therapy to treat many patients with various malignant tumors. The objective of the present study was to have their treatment procedures evaluated and validated by the United States (US) National Cancer Institute (NCI) Best Case Series (BCS) Program. Lung and oesophageal carcinoma patients were treated with homoeopathic remedies at the PBHRF according to Banerji's protocol until there was complete regression of the tumors. Case records including pathology and radiology reports for 14 patients were submitted for review by the US NCI BCS Program. Four of these cases had an independent confirmation of the diagnosis and radiographic response and were accepted as sufficient information for the NCI to initiate further investigation. These four cases are presented in detail in this report along with follow-up and outcome information. This study describes the process and outcome of a selected case series review through the NCI BCS Program. The results of the review were deemed to be sufficient to warrant NCIinitiated prospective research follow-up in the form of an observational study.

Finding safer and more effective treatments for specific cancers remains a significant challenge for integrative clinicians and researchers worldwide. One emerging strategy is the use of nanostructured forms of drugs, vaccines, traditional animal venoms, herbs, and nutraceutical agents in cancer treatment. The recent discovery of nanoparticles in traditional homeopathic medicines adds another point of convergence between modern nanomedicine and alternative interventional strategies. A way in which homeopathic remedies could initiate anticancer effects includes cell-to-cell signaling actions of both exogenous and endogenous (exosome) nanoparticles. The result can be a cascade of modulatory biological events with antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects. The Banerji Protocols reflect a multigenerational clinical system developed by homeopathic physicians in India who have treated thousands of patients with cancer. A number of homeopathic remedy sources from the Banerji Protocols (eg, Calcarea phosphorica; Carcinosin—tumor-derived breast cancer tissue prepared homeopathically) overlap those already under study in nonhomeopathic nanoparticle and nanovesicle tumor exosome cancer vaccine research. Past research on antineoplastic effects of nano forms of botanical extracts such as Phytolacca, Gelsemium, Hydrastis, Thuja, and Ruta as well as on homeopathic remedy potencies made from the same types of source materials suggests other important overlaps. The replicated finding of silica, silicon, and nano-silica release from agitation of liquids in glassware adds a proven nonspecific activator and amplifier of immunological effects. Taken together, the nanoparticulate research data and the Banerji Protocols for homeopathic remedies in cancer suggest a way forward for generating advances in cancer treatment with natural product–derived nanomedicines.

The purpose of the present paper is to (a) summarize evidence for the nanoparticle nature and biological effects of traditional homeopathically-prepared medicines at low and ultralow doses; (b) provide details of historically-based homeopathic green manufacturing materials and methods, relating them to top-down mechanical attrition and plant-based biosynthetic processes in modern nanotechnology; (c) outline the potential roles of nonlinear dose-responses and dynamical interactions with complex adaptive systems in generating endogenous amplification processes during low dose treatment. Possible mechanisms of low dose effects, for which there is evidence involving nanoparticles and/or homeopathically-manufactured medicines, include hormesis, time-dependent sensitization, and stochastic resonance. All of the proposed mechanisms depend upon endogenous nonlinear amplification processes in the recipient organism in interaction with the salient, albeit weak signal properties of the medicine. Conventional ligand-receptor mechanisms relevant to higher doses are less likely involved. Effects, especially for homeopathically-prepared nanophytomedicines, include bidirectional host state-dependent changes in function. Homeopathic clinicians report successful treatment of serious infections and cancers. Preclinical biological evidence is consistent with such claims. Controlled biological data on homeopathically-prepared medicines indicate modulation of gene expression and biological signaling pathways regulating cell cycles, immune reactions, and central nervous system function from studies on cells, animals, and human subjects. As a 200-year old system of traditional medicine used by millions of people worldwide, homeopathy offers a pulsed low dose treatment strategy and strong safety record to facilitate progress in translational nanomedicine with plants and other natural products. In turn, modern nanotechnology methods can improve homeopathic manufacturing procedures, characterize nanoparticle end-products, and describe interactions of homeopathic nanophytomedicines with living systems at the nanoparticle and even individual organism level of detection. Faster progress toward safe and effective personalized nanophytomedicine treatments can result.

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