Bridget Goodwin

Oz Apitherapy Spa, Australia

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The current predominant use of toxic cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation is increasingly questioned. These modalities have the effect of damaging healthy tissue and causing negative impact on the health of the patient which, apart from existing cancer, leads to weakening immunity and the inability to resist the original disease. Powerful economic forces are now established asserting that these modalities persist as the main prescribed treatments for cancer, even though the documented survival rate is low. Increasing research into other modalities such as the use of honey bee venom and sono photodynamic therapy indicates alternatives have encouraging potential. Honey bee venom is now well documented to kill cancerous tumours and at the same time boost the patient’s immune system non-toxically and increase their ability to survive cancer. Similarly, sono-photodynamic therapy is also well documented to make use of the interplay between various light forms, including low level laser, and photosensitisers, often with plant based origins. In addition, the recent development of sonodynamic therapy allows this treatment to occur with the use of sound only, ultrasound. This combination has been repeatedly shown to generate reactive oxygen species known to kill cancer cells. This thesis explores the documented efficacy of both modalities and questions whether they should be more widely adopted in the pursuit of non-toxic treatment for cancer. There are numerous peer reviewed studies documenting the efficacy of bee venom as an agent for causing apoptosis and they are quoted in this thesis. But not only can bee venom kill cancer cells, it also has an immune boosting role that is thought to be helpful in the fight against cancer. It is proposed in this thesis that a new model of cancer treatment be explored. For simplicity it proposes replacing what we know as “traditional toxic chemotherapy, with non-toxic bee venom as a chemotherapeutic drug. It is further proposed that rather than using conventional toxic radiation, that new methods of sono-photodynamic therapy be explored as a so-called non-toxic form of radiation to support the bee venom drug therapy. 2 Bee Venom and Sono-Photodynamic Therapy for Cancer, Goodwin 2023 SONODYNAMIC THERAPY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE In my thesis I include case studies and the research material published behind a treatment currently using sonodynamic therapy in China. In a Guangzhou hospital this is how Dr Lucy Li and her team treat cancer patients. Dr Lucy Li, from the International Medical Department of Foresea Life Insurance Guangzhou General Hospital in Guangzhou, China, have developed a special whole body ultrasound bath that they use to treat cancer. Patients are often given low-dose targeted chemotherapy as part of the treatment. But for the sonodynamic therapy, patients are given a sublingual tincture composed of algae as a natural sonosensitizer and then immersed in the bath. My proposal is that bee products could have a place in this treatment regimen as complementary to the sonodynamic therapy. It is possible that bee venom may have a role in place of low-dose chemotherapy and used in combination with sonodynamic therapy may be a potential non-toxic treatment for cancer, yet to be explored. Increasing research and wider adoption of the use of bee venom for cancer provides encouraging evidence that it can be successfully used as a non-toxic and highly effective treatment for cancer. Studies also into the use of photodynamic therapy indicate its potential to eradicate tumour cells with the combined use of a photosensitiser and a light source. Both of these methods are non-toxic to the normal cells of a patient and show great promise in a movement toward non-toxic cancer treatments. Growing acceptance of apitherapy and also of innovative use of laser and photosensitive treatments provides positive guidance that in the future wider acceptance of these treatment modalities may occur. The difficulty remains the deeply established use of conventionally adopted chemotherapy and radiation, despite discouraging statistics about its ultimate efficacy and patient survival rate. It is hoped that in the future the non-toxic modalities explored in this thesis will become more widespread in the treatment of cancer. China is well advanced in the use of bee venom for cancer treatment and many other countries are starting to explore Apitherapy as an alternative to toxic chemotherapeutic approaches. 3 Bee Venom and Sono-Photodynamic Therapy for Cancer, Goodwin 2023 More research is needed and more examples made publicly available to demonstrate how Apitherapy and sono photodynamic therapy could be more widely adopted for the treatment of serious illnesses such as cancer.