Effects of Emitted Qi on In Vitro Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxic Activity

American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 1722 2001

Institute for Advanced Research in Asian Science and Medicine

Effects of Emitted Qi on In Vitro Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxic Activity

Myeong Soo Lee1, Hwa Jeong Huh1, Hye-Sook Jang3, Chang Sub Han1, Hoon Ryu1 and Hun-Taeg Chung2*

1Department of Qi-Medicine, Institute of Biotechnology, Wonkwang University, 2Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Wonkwang University, School of Medicine, Iksan 570-749, 3Department of Nursing, Wonkwang Health Science College, Iksan 570-750, Republic of Korea *Corresponding author (Accepted for publication June 30, 2000)

Abstract: The present study investigated the effects of Korean Qi-therapy, ChunSoo Energy Healing, on natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity in vitro depending on Qi-treatment time and the types of cells treated. NK cell cytotoxicity was assayed by measuring LDH release from tumor target cells (K562 cell lines). NK activity was significantly increased by emitted-Qi treatment of 30 sec duration. Three and 5 minutes of Qi projection created the greatest increase in NK cell activity when mixtures of NK cells and K562 cells were treated (1.81 and 2.12 fold for 4 hr culture; 1.54 and 1.36 for 16 hr culture, respectively). NK cell activity increased significantly in Qi-treated K562 cells alone (1.13 fold, p0.05) compared to control. These results are consistent with in vivo Qi-therapy on humans and suggests that emitted-Qi has an acute stimulatory effect on NK cell activity. This study provides direct scientific support that Qi as such may positively affect human cellular immunity.