A study on the ayurveda intervention (Virechana - therapeutic purgation and Rasayana - rejuvenation) on molecular gene expression profiling in familial breast cancer patients

Background: The study was conducted to assess the ayurvedic intervention Virechana - therapeutic purgation and Rasayana - rejuvenation on predisposed familial breast cancer expression profiling of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Materials and Methods: The total RNA was extracted from blood of five subjects of familial breast cancer predisposition patients using PAX Gene Blood RNA Kit who had undergone the ayurvedic intervention Virechana - therapeutic purgation and Rasayana - rejuvenation therapy. BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene expression was assessed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The qPCR-based BRCA1 gene expression results were analyzed for fold variation based on Ct values using the following formula: 2 (−ΔΔCt), where ΔCt is the Ct (GOI) − avg.(Ct (HKG)), GOI is the gene of interest, and HKG is the housekeeping gene. Results: In one subject (S1), the upregulation (61.82) showed further increase (843.36) by therapeutic purgation and then decreased below the baseline level (11.3) in the rejuvenation phase. In three subjects (S2, S3, and S5), the upregulated genes (1488.87, 15825.9, and 19.16) showed down trend continuously till rejuvenation phase (1.92, 4.17, and 3.97) but not to downregulation. Another subject (S4) showed reversal of genetic expression, i.e., downregulated gene (−1) showed upregulation (237,900.70) continuously throughout the therapy, which is in conformity of the proposed hypothesis, i.e., biopurification (therapeutic purgation) followed by rejuvenation leads to upregulation of gene. Conclusion: With the available limited and diversified data, it may be concluded that therapeutic purgation followed by rejuvenation (Narasimha Rasayana) therapy exerted effect on gene expression, but further study needs to be conducted with more number of samples