Autologous blood therapy is now known to broad circles of the population, not lastly since it is included in the list of prohibited doping agents. In autologous blood therapy, blood is removed from the patient and reinjected at another site of the body of the patient. In this context, variants also exist, such as irradiation of the blood with UV-C light, enrichment of the blood with an ozone-oxygen mixture, or addition of nosodes, other homeopathic preparations or immunostimulants such as Echinacea, before the reinjection of the blood into the patient.
Less known are the so-called autologous blood nosodes (also referred to as autologous blood therapy according to Imhäuser). For the preparation thereof, a drop of blood taken from the tip of the finger or the earlobe is usually diluted with aqueous ethanol (for example, 10 or 20 mL), or also triturated with sucrose or xylitol, for example, and processed to form globules, and the resulting dispersion or globules is/are administered back to the patient orally at dosages of several drops respectively per day. This first dilution can be diluted further according to the principles of homeopathy, both in the form of a solution and also in the form of globules. The autologous blood nosodes are preferably administered, for example, in allergic and skin diseases as well as in recurring infectious diseases. It is assumed that the mechanism of action is a nonspecific general regeneration reaction.
It is known that blood is composed of erythrocytes, leukocytes, thrombocytes and blood plasma, wherein the last-mentioned blood plasma consists of approximately 90% water and approximately 10% substances dissolved therein, mainly salts and buffers (acids/bases) as well as proteins (for example, albumin and coagulation factors).
The key protein, albumin (or human serum albumin (HSA)), is used primarily for maintaining the osmotic pressure of the blood as well as for the transport of water-insoluble substances in the blood. Furthermore, it has a disintegrating action on erythrocytes and thrombocytes. HSA is an amphoteric protein having a molecular weight of approximately 66.470 Da. It has an elliptical shape with a relatively hard core and a flexible surface structure (Münnemann, Kerstin; Hinderberger, Dariush; Research Report from Webservice 2011—Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Report No. 1179941, which is available on the worldwide web at mpip-mainz.mpg.de).
In medicine, it has been known for some time that binding of drugs to HSA can entail considerable advantages, for example, a reduction of the required active substance quantity, fewer side effects, and a more targeted transport of the active substance to the site of the disease process. Here, the binding of the active substance to the HSA occurs either by covalent bond (for example, methotrexate-HSA or aminopterin-HSA) or, in the case of nab (nanoparticle albumin-bound)-paclitaxel, by high-pressure homogenization of amorphous paclitaxel in the presence of HSA to form a colloidal nanoparticle suspension.
Normal nosodes (that is to say non-autologous blood nosodes), the name of which is derived from the Greek word “nosos” (“disease”), are produced according to procedures of the HAB (Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia) from (greatly weakened or killed) pathogens, pathological materials such as blood of a sick person, pus, or cells from organs, for example, cancer cells, or body secretions or excretions including, for example, hormones (today, more than 2000 nosodes are commercially available). In the nosode, the principle of immunization (stimulation of the body's self-healing forces by exposing the body to a weakened disease stimulus) is associated with the principle of homeopathy. The term “nosode” was coined around 1830 by the American physician Constantin Hering. However, the principle has been known since antiquity. In 800 BC, the Chinese already used diluted smallpox secretions which were introduced through a scratch under the skin against the disease. Hippocrates as well taught to “heal bad with bad,” and the British philosopher and physician Robert Fludd described the treatment of consumptive patients with dilutions of their sputum.
It was the aim of the invention to combine the advantages of an autologous nosode with the advantages of binding an active substance or active agent to HSA, i.e., to load the HSA present in the autologous blood nosode with an active substance or active agent, in particular in an effective but as mild as possible a manner.