In vivo treatment with M8, a highly diluted tinctures complex, reduced the malignancy of a mouse melanoma model

Abstract

Background: Cancer is a class of disease responsible for 13% of death cause worldwide. Among all types of cancers, one of the most aggressive and with the highest death rate is melanoma. It is highly metastatic and current treatments with chemotherapeutic drugs do not yield satisfactory results. Therefore, the interest on new therapeutics for cancer treatment has been increasing on research. Highly diluted tinctures (HDT) are intended to enhance immune system responses resulting in reduced frequency of various diseases, and often present no risk of serious side-effects due to its low toxicity. Previous results have demonstrated in vitro inhibition of invasion ability and in vivo anti-metastatic potential of B16F10 lung metastasis model after mice treatment with M8 inhalation.
 
 Aims: Now we have evaluated M8 effects on hyaluronic acid and its specific melanoma cell surface receptor (CD44) expression on lungs after inhalation by mice.
 
 Methodology: M8 compounds include Aconitum napellus 20dH, Arsenicum album 18dH, Asa foetida 20dH, Calcarea carbonica 16dH, Conium maculatum 17dH, Ipecacuanha 13dH, Phosphorus 20dH, Rhus toxicodendron 17H, Silicea 20dH, Sulphur 24dH, and Thuja occidentalis 19dH. B16F10 Melanoma cells were inoculated into C57B/L6 mouse lateral tail vein. Treatment started 24 hours after inoculation, and was repeated after each 12 hours during 14 days on an inhalation chamber that is adapted to little rodents. Mice were subjected to euthanasia by intraperitoneal injection of thiopental followed by decapitation. Lungs were surgically removed and analyzed under a stereomicroscope for the presence of metastatic foci. They were formaldehyde fixed, dehydrated and paraffin embedded. Histological sections were processed for hematoxilin/eosin (HE), Fontana-Masson and immunohistochemistry staining methods. Images were captured and blindly analysed by ImageJ (NIH) software.
 
 Results: HE and Fontana-Masson showed a reduction in number and size of metastatic nodules, as previously demonstrated. We have detected a reduction on hyaluronic acid as well as CD44 expression on mice lungs after M8 treatment. The high metastatic potential of melanoma is proportional to hyaluronic acid expression level, together with its specific cell surface receptor, the CD44. These results suggest that M8 treatment reduces malignancy of mouse melanoma through modulation of hyaluronic acid and CD44 expression, which play crucial roles in tumor invasion and growth.
 
 Conclusion: Even though further investigation are necessary to elucidate the mechanisms of action of M8 treatment there is an indication that these highly diluted tinctures could be a promising therapy to treat metastatic melanoma.