Rapid induction of protective tolerance to potential terrorist agents: a systematic review of low- and ultra-low dose research

A.L. Szeto; F. Rollwagen; W.B. Jonas

doi:10.1016/j.homp.2004.07.001

Homeopathy, Table of Contents

Homeopathy 2004; 93(04): 173-178
DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2004.07.001

Original Paper

Rapid induction of protective tolerance to potential terrorist agents: a systematic review of low- and ultra-low dose research^{[
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Authors

A.L. Szeto

¹Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, USA

²Department of Preventive Medicine & Biometrics, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA
F. Rollwagen

³Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA
W.B. Jonas

⁴Samueli Institute for Information Biology, Alexandria, VA, USA

⁵Departments of Family Medicine and Pathology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

Subject Editor:

Abstract

Objective: To systematically review the literature on the ability of low-dose (LD) and ultra-low-dose (ULD) toxin exposure to prevent and treat biological and chemical threats.

Methods: Laboratory research articles on protection or treatment from LD or ULD exposure for the 13 high-risk chemical and biological warfare threats were collected and systematically evaluated for quantity and scientific quality using pre-defined methodological criteria.

Results: Over 2600 articles were screened. Only five studies met the inclusion criteria examining stimulation and protective effects of LD- or ULD-exposures to the 13 pre-identified biological and chemical agents. The quality evaluation (QE) of these studies was above average with a mean QE score of 70.6% of maximum. Two articles of fair to good quality reported both protective and treatment efficacy from exposure of animals or humans to LD- and ULD-exposures to toxins of risk in biochemical warfare.

Conclusion: There is little research on agents of biological and chemical warfare investigating the possible use of LD- and ULD-toxins for protection and treatment. The existing literature is generally of good quality and indicates that rapid induction of protective tolerance is a feasible but under-investigated approach to bioterrorist or biowarfare defense. In our opinion, further research into the role of induced protection with LD- and ULD-toxic agents is needed.

Keywords

hormesis - Low- or ultra-low dose level (exposure, response, stimulation, reverse effect) - U-shaped response - bi-phasic effect - dose-dependent reverse effects - hormoligosis - homeopathy - picopharmacology/nanopharmacology - toxicology, biological warfare agents - chemical warfare agents

Full Text

References

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Rapid induction of protective tolerance to potential terrorist agents: a systematic review of low- and ultra-low dose research[ * ]

Authors

Rapid induction of protective tolerance to potential terrorist agents: a systematic review of low- and ultra-low dose research^{[
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]}