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Curing disease with electronic intervention - possible?

I initially posted this query in the 'Ask an Expert' section and it was suggested I post over here, so here goes.


An acquaintance is convinced that his cancer has been cured by a device called a 'Rife machine': http://www.spooky2.com/ As far as I can tell from my online searches, there is no recogniseable scientific, reproducible research into the relevant biological responses to electromagnetic stimulation at various frequencies, other than those looking for adverse effects such as those feared in the early days of mobile phone use.


I want to be supportive of him and his new-found enthusiasm, but my concern is that the device is purely a form of placebo generator (it's complicated, it's electronic, and 'the authorities' want to suppress reports of its usefulness). Is anybody aware of a possible mechanism by which this device could, albeit indavertently, provide positive therapeutic effects?


Joan
  • I note that there is a potentially similar thread on here back in 2012. It also received a nul response. So no interest and, presumably, no knowledge in the Institution about this subject.


    Ah well.


    Joan
  • Hi Joan

       I know John White the creator of the Spooky2 technology. He came up against the mighty impenetrable wall that keeps mainstream medicine in the early 19th century. I say 19th century because they are alchemists and the antibiotics were an accidental discovery. John's philosophy is to create cheap equipment that anybody can try for themselves to circumvent the block imposed by mainstream medicine. There are many cures coming from Electrotherapy devices as stated on the Spooky2 forum and as I have found for myself. I shall post some information later today about what I have been doing. Unfortunately there are many fools that muddy the waters and just want to make up things to sell their equipment or make money out of using Spooky equipment to treat people. Electrotherapy was essentially started by Tesla & Lakhowsky at the beginning of the 20th century and one should ask would Tesla waste his time designing machines if they didn't work. Rife carried on from them and with his microscope could see the effects of electrical signals on pathogens. Why the cure for all diseases has been ignored for over a century is unbelievable but then we have had physicians for 2000 years or more and look how long it took to discover antibiotics.
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Well, there is this:


    JAMA. 2017 Dec 19;318(23):2306-2316. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.18718.

    Effect of Tumor-Treating Fields Plus Maintenance Temozolomide vs Maintenance Temozolomide Alone on Survival in Patients With Glioblastoma: A Randomized Clinical Trial.


    It's a device called Optune by Novocure that generates a low intensity 200Hz alternating field. When used in combination with standard of care chemotherapy, patients treated with the device showed modest improvements in progression-free survival (6.7 months vs 4 months with chemotherapy alone) and overall survival (20.9 months versus 16) with an improved 5 year survival rate of 13% vs 5%. As a single modality (without the chemotherapy) the device was previously shown to have similar effects to standard chemotherapy regimens. Is that a miracle cure? Maybe, if you are one of the 13%. The treatment cost in 2017 was over £18,000 per month, however. That's not been deemed cost effective for the NHS. The mechanism appears to involve modulating certain proteins that have a high dipole moment including tubulin. This disrupts microtubules leading to mitotic catastrophe. Mechanistically, that's not much different from just giving the patients a microtubule poison like Taxol which is one of the old-school cytotoxic chemotherapy agents (except it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier so doesn't work well in these particular patients). It also doesn't give much scope for selective targeting of the molecular mechanisms of cancer, of which there are a great many.


    This leads to the point "what kind of cancer"? There are hundreds of "cancer genes" which can be mutated in all sorts of combinations. Every cancer is at least as genetically unique as the patient and then some. That's exactly why there isn't and never will be a single "catch-all" treatment for cancer. On the other hand, try telling a CML patient on Imatinib who has been progression-free for a decade and more that modern drug discovery is all alchemy (although there is, I accept, a bit of serendipity involved). It's hard to see how "tumour treating fields" can specifically target a tumour with, say, epidermal growth factor receptor mutation. Still, if it works reproducibly in certain settings then that's obviously a good thing if the therapy can be offered at a realistic price.


    The previous point is correct: there isn't enough information about the Spooky2 device. In fact there is no information. There is nothing at all on Pubmed, which leads to the obvious conclusion that this device is simply snake-oil. The claim that they have developed programs that target specific DNA sequences can certainly be dismissed as nonsense. In general, it is extremely reckless and dangerous to make claims about anticancer properties in the absence of evidence. I direct that to the suppliers of the device rather than individuals who are possibly desperate to try anything. If they think the device treats cancer they should test that in a clinical trial (which, incidentally, are a 20th Century invention and continue to improve with more recent approaches like Bayesian designs). Simple answer: it is NOT an alternative to best current therapy.

  • The Novocure system is chemo not Electrotherapy and I wouldn't advocate applying electricity to a sick body since the currents affect cell walls and lots of other mechanisms that could weaken the body systems and defenses letting the pathogens in to the cells. There are a lot of misconceptions about the Rife method of killing viruses that has nothing to do with DNA and the different genomes. If the cancer virus being treated glows reddish brown when viewed with the Rife lighting technique the Rife machine setting will toast it. All the resources are being diverted to research in chemicals and gene therapy when the answer already exists with Electrotherapy. Have a read of my post here that gives a small insight in to what I have found
    https://communities.theiet.org/communities/discussions/viewtopic/58/107/23737?post_id=115453#p115453
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    This is a pretty good MOOC on cancer biology which might be helpful.

    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/cancer-and-the-genomic-revolution