The Borrommean Property is exhibited in three entangled circles, in which, if any one is removed the other two are no longer entangled. A less complex, and less useful, way to imagine this is to think of a 3-legged stool that will fall over if one leg is removed.
To reiterate, it takes all three circles, or properties, to manifest the whole. Until the third property is added, the other two manifest nothing as an entity, although they may separately produce manifestations unique to themselves.
This property should not be confused with Torus Circles, which are another way of entangling three circles, but in which two circles remain entangled even if any one is removed.
How This Property Might Apply to ME/CFS
(and other neuroimmune diseases)
Suppose that one theoretical circle represents the class of retroviruses now being called Human Gamma Retroviruses (HGRVs), for lack of a better description. It is possible that other retroviruses, such as the spuma retrovirus, might fulfill the requisites of this circle.
Suppose that another theoretical circle represents a virus from the Herpes Viruses family, such as EBV, herpes simplex, or a half-dozen others, all of which are common infections that the healthy immune system clears, or at least keeps at bay. This family of viruses is also extremely destructive in the immune-compromised person. It is responsible for neuropathy and rare cancers in humans and animals with compromised immune systems.
Suppose that the third circle represents a much larger menu of possibilities. These might include spirochetes such as those thought to cause Lyme disease. It might include environmental toxins such as solvents, herbicides, insecticides, fungal toxins and other virus families. Stress from surgery, traumatic accidents or extremely stressful life events like war, rape or other physical brutality might be factors.
Some Possible Scenarios
1 – Suppose a person is born with an HGRV, forming circle one.
Then a herpes virus invades, subsides and then hides in the lymphatic system of those susceptible to the disease, for whatever reason, forming circle two.
Then something from the third list, say a spirochete infection or exposure to nerve-damaging herbicides such as those derived from Agent Orange (all nerve agents) occurs to link all three.
The last two insults link with the first to cause brain and CNS damage. Depending on the age of the brain and the strengths and weaknesses of the individual's constitution/genetics, several systems of the body are damaged.
Perhaps the HGRVs stop the body from repairing itself in normal time. The fact that they write themselves into human DNA near the stop-start codons might make it possible to slow down the metabolism and/or the speed of natural repairs. This would result in pain (tissues never get completely repaired) and exhaustion (mitochondrial myopathy, unrepaired tissues and disrupted metabolism). You develop classic ME/CFS.
2 - You are born with HGRV and as a baby you are exposed to viruses from list 2 and jabbed with several vaccinations that provoke an immune response. Your HGRV is stimulated to replicate fast and furiously, damaging your immature immune system and your brain. You are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
3 – You have latent HGRV (from birth or from exposure during an outbreak) and latent EBV (or other herpes viruses). You are exposed to toxic mold, have surgery with an anesthetic that is inappropriate for your body or undergo extreme stress that damages your immune system further. You develop ME/CFS, GWS, MS, ALS or other neuroimmune disease.
4 – Same as number 3 but instead of toxins, surgery or stress as the third circle, you are infected with a spirochete from a tick bite. You develop treatment-resistant Lyme, which is actually neuroimmune disease.
Treatment Implications
Treating any one of these symptom-causing organisms may help the body function better and lighten the viral load. As one ME patient has said, it's like carrying around a backpack of rocks. If you treat one virus successfully, it's like tossing out one of the rocks. But lightening the load is not treating the whole disease complex. It does not remove the effect of that second circle; it simply makes it less.
Since we cannot go back in time and remove the latent viruses or remove the insult from the third circle/list, it follows that we need to focus on the first circle, the one that holds the whole entity together: HGRV.
We cannot remove HGRV from our bodies either, but treatment to stop replication and to stop attachment to cells and, possibly to lower the viral reservoirs, is the natural, logical next step in treating this disease.
Balancing the immune system would then help the patient to become more likely to fend off other insults in the future and keep latent viruses and retroviruses latent.
Borrommean Treatment Approach in Neuroimmune Disease
1 – Test for viruses such as the herpes viruses and the dozens of others that have been found at above normal rates in ME/CFS/Neuroimmune Disease. Treat with antiviral drugs. Develop strategies for patients with extreme sensitivity to drugs or their effectiveness. Starting low and raising dosage slowly might be required.
2 – Test and treat for immune abnormalities. Enhance immune function. Low Dose Naltrexone, Ampligen, Oxymatrine are possibilities.
3 - Test and treat for retroviruses. Ampligen, AZT, tenofovir and raltegravir are available now. Develop a protease inhibitor or retrieve from earlier HIV drug investigations.
Fragile patients might need to start with number 2, enhancing the immune system, before ever trying other drugs. Or they might be successful at starting with low doses and working up.
Stronger patients and those who haven't been sick for decades may be able to do all three legs of this three-legged stool at once. As in HIV/AIDS treatment, a drug “cocktail” may be just what the doctor needs to order.
All of these treatments are available now and there are hundreds of thousands of patients who would gladly become the subjects of treatment trials. The risk of injury or death from such treatments pales in comparison to the living death patients experience now.
My “Borrommean” Prayer
I pray that all the fighting factions, whether fighting from ego, greed, stubbornness and/or ignorance will have an attack of conscience, compassion and accountability and begin to think of all aspects of this disease as treatable now.
Blessings
Blessings on those who already have a well-developed conscience, compassion and a sense of accountability.
You know who you are!
This includes all those physicians who are already quietly doing this for patients who have the resources. Of course, it includes the WPI, which will open its translational medicine clinic for neuroimmune diseases on August 1, 2011, at the U of Nevada, Reno, truly an historical moment!
Borromean DNA
Nadrian Seeman has succeeded in making Borromean molecules. As part of his programme to develop techniques in nanotechnology, he makes DNA molecules with prescribed geometric or topological structures. The construction of known DNA knots and links provides useful objects on which to study the action of enzymes, topoisomerases, which change the topology (link type) of molecules. There are more details at the lab website.
- Mao, W. Sun, N.C. Seeman, `Construction of Borromean Rings from DNA', Nature 386 (1997) pp137-138.
