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Little known in homeopathy & often rejected/retracted in medical literature potentized signalling molecule research has been conducted in a wide variety of therapeutic clinical domains for fifty years
First published in Similia - the Australian Journal of Homeopathic Medicine, Vol 36 No 1, June 2023.
Signaling molecules are defined as any molecule involved in endocrine, paracrine, autocrine, intracrine, and/or direct signaling such as interleukins, cytokines, antibodies, growth factors, histamine, neuropeptides, and hormones, including antibodies, and the nucleic acids DNA and RNA.
Once referred to as ultra-dilute potentized antibodies, potentized signalling molecules have more recently been termed release-active dilutions (RAD). Interestingly, some RAD researchers state these products are not homeopathic medicines
although the processes of serial dilution alternating with kinetic agitation (succussion) - referred to as release-activation - defines these products as homeopathic (1)Three papers retracted explicitly due to their investigations of RAD were accompanied with the statement ‘Homeopathy is an outmoded form of therapy that is not accepted by modern medical practice and is rejected by modern science. If the manuscript submitted to Antiviral Research had identified the nature of the materials being tested as homeopathic products, it would have been rejected…’
These retractions sparked a flurry of anti-homeopathy comment
with claims RAD research is pseudoscientific and unjustified although high dilution antibody technologies were developed and are approved for use in Russian health care,(4) and accusations by Panchin et al., that reviewers and editors of medical journals which published papers claiming therapeutic properties and physiological effects of drugs with no active components ‘carried out their work appallingly and made gross mistakes.’ Stating that the vast amounts of research on drugs not containing any active ingredients published by numerous academic journals indicates medicine is either at the brink of a revolution or something has gone wrong, Panchin et al., argued for the latter concluding that this ‘has severe implications for the scientific and healthcare enterprises.Unsurprisingly, Panchin et al., are card carrying members of the Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Pseudoscience and Research Fraud whose 2017 ‘Memorandum No.2. Homeopathy as Pseudoscience’ was revealed, via prosecutors check, not to be the official position of Russian Academy of Sciences but rather a personal scientific opinion of the Memorandum's authors.
Manchanda et al., make mention of the current regulatory policy gap with regard to RAD products emphasizing high dilution research on the effects of histamine on basophil degranulation as one of the best-established basic research models(1) - a body of over twenty years work which confirms the biological effects of homeopathic potencies of histamine
replicated in large multi-center studies, and summarize the legality of not marketing RAD products as homeopathy as correct from a regulatory perspective, as only products manufactured in strict accordance with a recognized homeopathic pharmacopoeia are classified as homeopathic medicines.As even the most vehement critics postulate, medicine could be undergoing a revolution making this an opportune time for RAD products to join the ranks of science based homeopathic medicines by undergoing drug provings
just as was suggested by Boericke & Dewey when opposition to Schussler’s method was rife because it was not pure homeopathic practice.Sarah Penrose BSc(hons)Hom. is an Australasian homeopath and can be contacted at goodhealthforgreatlife.com
Manchanda et al., The Clinical and Biological Effects of Homeopathically Prepared Signaling Molecules: A Scoping Review. Homeopathy [Internet]. 2022 Feb [cited 2023 Jan 20];111(1):10-21. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34798672/
Don et al., The phenomenon of released-activity. Reply on comment on Don et al.: Dose-dependent antiviral activity of released-active form of antibodies to interferon-gamma against influenza A/California/07/09(H1N1) in murine model. J Med Virol [Internet]. 2017 Jul [cited 2023 Feb 20];89(7):1127-1130. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28036118/
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Petrova et al., Retraction notice to "Efficacy of novel antibody-based drugs against rhinovirus infection: In vitro and in vivo results" [Antiviral Research 142 (2017) 185-192]. Antiviral Res [Internet]. 2019 Apr [cited 2023 Feb 21];164:176. Available from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354219300853?via%3Dihub
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Tarasov et al., Activity of ultra-low doses of antibodies to gamma-interferon against lethal influenza A(H1N1)2009 virus infection in mice. Antiviral Res. 2012 Feb;93(2):219-224. Epub 2011 Dec 8. Retraction in: Antiviral Res [Internet]. 2019 Apr [cited 2023 Feb 21];164:177. Available from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354211005195?via%3Dihub
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Tarasov S. Defamation: no evidence required December 2018. Comment on Drug discovery today: no molecules required. BMJ Evid Based Med [Internet]. 2019 Apr [cited 2023 Feb 24];24(2):48-52. Epub 2018 Dec 6. Erratum in: BMJ Evid Based Med. 2020 Aug;25(4):e4. Available from https://ebm.bmj.com/content/24/2/48.responses#defamation-no-evidence-required
Belon P, Cumps J, Ennis M. Histamine dilutions modulate basophil activation. Inflamm Res [Internet]. 2004 [cited 2023 Feb 24];53:181–188. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15105967/
Lorenz I, Schneider E M, Stolz P, Brack A, Strube J. Sensitive flow cytometric method to test basophil activation influenced by homeopathic histamine dilutions. Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd [Internet]. 2003 [cited 2023 Feb 24];10:316–324. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14707480/
Chirumbolo S, Brizzi M, Ortolani R, Vella A, Bellavite P. Inhibition of CD203c membrane up-regulation in human basophils by high dilutions of histamine: a controlled replication study. Inflamm Res [Internet]. 2009 [cited 2023 Feb 24];58:755–764. Available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2759025/
Sainte-Laudy J, Belon P. Inhibition of basophil activation by histamine: a sensitive and reproducible model for the study of the biological activity of high dilutions. Homeopathy [Internet]. 2009 [cited 2023 Feb 24];98:186–197. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19945674/
Herr, G., Natz, A., & van Haselen, R. The coherency of regulatory requirements for homeopathic medicinal products in the EU and the EAEU. EPLR [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2023 Feb 24];3, 58. Available from https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/eplr3&div=18&id=&page=
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