EC Neurology

Immunology, or the science of biological defense of our body (Latin immunis means providing exemption, protection) against disease, is one of modern medicine’s youngest and most dynamic disciplines. The science of immunology was born with the development of the vaccine. It was the English physician Edward Jenner who, in the late 18th century, experimentally induced immunity to smallpox in a young patient. He injected the patient with pus from a dairymaid who developed cowpox, a benign disease that resembles smallpox. The treated patient became resistant or immune to a lethal smallpox. Since this famous experiment with cowpox, the procedure to induce resistance or immunity to disease has been termed vaccination, from the Latin vacca, meaning cow.

In the 1950s, the efforts of three American scientists, Jonas Salk, Hilary Koprowski, and Albert Sabin, provided one of the most spectacular proofs of the effectiveness of vaccination. Salk, Koprowski, and Sabin developed a vaccine against poliomyelitis (a crippling inflammation of the nervous system) or Heine-Medina disease, virtually eliminating this deadly viral disease worldwide. In the early 1980s, vaccines for hepatitis B became available, and in 1992, an effective vaccine against hepatitis A was developed. The 1990s brought a resurgence of interest in solving the scourge of various diseases through specific vaccines. For example, the early 90s work of Colombian biochemist Manuel Elkin Patarroyo provided a viable protection against malaria, a disease caused by a parasite spread by mosquitoes. This disease kills some 2 million people annually, 90 percent of them in tropical Africa.

The recent COVID-19 epidemic brought a new challenge and approach to treating the infection. Instead of traditional vaccines providing a weakened or inactivated germ to the human organism, several pharmaceutical companies developed messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines that allow the organism to make a spike protein (the “corona” of the virus) that triggers an immune response and antibodies against COVID-19 infection. After vaccination, the body’s immune cells begin making the spike protein, triggering the antibody response against the virus.

Vaccination to prevent cancer or against developed cancer is a promising anticancer approach compared with cytotoxic drugs, which may indiscriminately kill cancerous and healthy cells. Anticancer vaccines are a form of immunotherapy that helps the body’s immune system unmask, identify, and destroy cancer cells.

The targets of anticancer vaccines are fragments of DNA or RNA found in cancer cells, the entire cancer cells from the donor (a patient), or cancer cells grown in a lab. Vaccines made from antigens found in cancer cells trigger the immune system to attack the cancer with specific antibodies. Some vaccine adjuvants help the body produce antibodies that attack cancer cells. There are many challenges in developing anticancer vaccines, and the development can be very costly and complicated in identifying the target molecules.

These examples of tremendously successful vaccination and related immunology compel us to reflect on how the ancient medical systems, like Ayurveda or Tibetan medicine, relate to unprecedented medical science. The principle of vaccination, based on a strong challenge to the healthy organism, was not practiced in any form in Ayurveda and related Tibetan medicine. The fact that several thousand years of medical traditions didn’t utilize the principle of vaccination could be explained by a different conceptual approach to preventing and treating disease. The principle of prevention and treatment in Tibetan medicine is based mainly on the assistance of both healthy and sick organisms, hence the proverbial “you are what you eat” and “food is your medicine”. The principle described in the Tibetan tradition supports the recently discussed microbiome in health and disease. Term Microbiome signifies the community of symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms that share our body space, prominently in the gastrointestinal tract, and by interacting with our organism, determine the state of health and disease. The human microbiome helps regulate and negotiate the complex relationships between the human organism and its microbiome constituency in preserving health, well-being, longevity, and immunity in the event of a future disease.

Because of this unique approach to preventing and treating the disease, Tibetan medicine may be necessary to provide the traditional means to strengthen the immune system and prevent and fight back against the disease. The science of immunology recognizes these means as immunological adjuvants or biological response modifiers (BRM) - the substances capable of assisting (Latin adjuvare means to help, assist) the immune system, especially in actively fighting the disease. The adjuvants or BRM can modify the individual’s biological response, resulting in, for example, a higher level of response to a viral infection or helping unmask and generate antibody response to a developing cancer.

6-Shogaol derived from ginger (Zingiber officinalis) is an example of an AI-developed compound compelling in iron homeostasis, an antimicrobial and antiviral antibiotic, and an anticancer adjuvant and biological response modifier [1-3]. Based on clinical studies, 6-Shogaol is effective in the management of early stages of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with a potential for Bohring Opitz Syndrome (BOS), a genetic syndrome of multiorgan developmental disability in children [4]. The compound exemplifies a drug repurposing potential or development of an existing drug outside the scope of its original indication for management of MDS [3,4]. The adjuvant mechanism and drug repurposing are innovative and attractive therapeutic platforms that use artificial intelligence with potential 30 compounds from Indo-Tibetan materia medica in line for further development [5].

 Keywords: Vaccines; Biological Modifiers; BRM; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; MDS; Opitz Bohring-Opitz Syndrome; BOS; Tibetan Medicine

1. Badmaev V. “Interactive nutrient process (INP) in a generative AI of a new drug-6-shogaol as a potential case”. Drug Design, Development and Therapy 18 (2024): 161-163.
2. Golombick T., et al. “Effect of the ginger derivative, 6-shogaol, on ferritin levels in patients with low to intermediate-1–risk myelodysplastic syndrome—a small, investigative study”. Clinical Medicine Insights: Blood Disorders 10 (2017): 1-4.
3. Badmaev V. “Method maintaining iron homeostasis with shogaols”. Patent No.: US 10,864,174 B2 (2017).
4. Badmaev V. “Shogaols as epigenetic compounds”. EC Neurology 17.1 (2025): 01-02.
5. Badmaev V. “Tibetan medicine in essentials of complementary and alternative medicine by Wayne B. Jonas and Jeffrey S. Levin published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (1999).