Transcriptional Changes in Cancer Cells Induced by Exposure to a Healing Method
📄 Original study ↗📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
Can you bottle healing energy — literally record it like a song? This study tried exactly that. Researchers captured the electromagnetic output of three energy healers (using the Bengston method, which previously cured tumors in mice) onto audio recordings inside a shielded chamber, then played them at breast cancer cells. Out of 167 genes tested, 68 showed significant changes. Two proved especially reliable: ACLY (involved in energy metabolism) was consistently dialed down after 4 hours across three experiments, and IL-1β (an inflammation signal) was suppressed at 24 hours. Hands-on healing produced even faster, stronger effects. The fascinating twist? Despite all these gene-level shifts, the cells looked completely normal — no change in growth, death, or shape. Something was happening under the hood without showing on the surface. The researchers propose these two genes as biomarkers for detecting whether healing does something at the molecular level.
Abstract
Energy healing, or healing with intent, is a complementary and alternative medicine therapy reported to be beneficial with a wide variety of conditions. We are developing a delivery technology for a method previously tested in mouse models with solid tumors (the Bengston method) independent of the presence of a healer. The goal of this study was to assess whether stored or recorded energy has an impact on breast cancer cells in vitro, using energy-charged cotton and electromagnetic recording of healers practicing the method. Expression of genes involved in cancer and inflammation pathways was measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Treatment of cells using energy-charged cotton resulted in statistically significant changes < 1.5-fold. In cells exposed to an electromagnetic recording, 37 genes of 167 tested showed a > 1.5-fold change when compared to the control, and 68 genes showing statistically significant fold changes. Two genes, ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) and interleukin 1b (IL-1b), were consistently downregulated at 4 and 24 hours of exposure to the recording, respectively, in 3 independent experiments. Both ACLY and IL-1b were also downregulated in cells exposed to a hands-on delivery of the method, suggesting these 2 genes as potential markers of the healing method.
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📋 Cite this paper
Beseme, S, Bengston, W, Radin, D, Turner, M, McMichael, J (2018). Transcriptional Changes in Cancer Cells Induced by Exposure to a Healing Method. Dose-Response. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559325818782843
@article{beseme_2018_transcriptional,
title = {Transcriptional Changes in Cancer Cells Induced by Exposure to a Healing Method},
author = {Beseme, S and Bengston, W and Radin, D and Turner, M and McMichael, J},
year = {2018},
journal = {Dose-Response},
doi = {10.1177/1559325818782843},
}