The quality of life in cancer patients is largely related to the activity of the immune system. Clinical reports show improvement in the quality of life of terminally ill patients treated with the homeopathic medicine carbo animalis, however, the literature on this subject is rare. The objective of this study was to propose an experimental model to study the possible effects of carbo animalis in the immune response to a highly malignant carcinoma, as well as their impact on the general condition of the sick animals. Male Balb/c mice were inoculated with Ehrlich ascites tumor and treated with carbo animalis 6cH or 6cH + 30cH (potency association). The control group was treated with the same succussioned vehicle. Clinical signs, survival and the local immune response (peritoneal) were evaluated. T lymphocytes, B1 and B2, NK cells and phagocytes were identified and quantified by immuno-cytochemistry and flow cytometry. Animals treated with carbo animalis 6cH + 30cH showed increase of incidence in clinical signs comparing to the other groups. The local immune response, showed increase in the proportion of CD25+ cells in relation to total T cells and increase of B1 cells compared to B2 cells in the group treated with carbo animalis 6cH. In contrast, animals treated with carbo animalis 6cH + 30cH showed increase in the number of CD3+ cells and NK cells, both adhered to tumor cells. Although the clinical significance of these findings are still under discussion, this preliminary work provides a useful experimental protocol for the study of the mechanisms of this remedy and shows the possible relevance of homeopathic potencies association in the anti-neoplasm treatments.
Keywords
Ascites Ehrlich tumor - High dilutions - Homeopathy -
Carbo animalis
- Tumor immunology - Experimental oncology
