THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

Volume 18, Number 3, 2012, pp. 221228

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/acm.2011.0467

Original Articles

Effect of a Japanese Energy Healing Method

Known as Johrei on Viability and Proliferation
of Cultured Cancer Cells In Vitro
Kazuko Abe, BA,* Rie Ichinomiya, BA,* Tatsue Kanai, BA,* and Kenji Yamamoto, PhD

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to explore the effect of a Japanese energy healing method known as Johrei on the
viability and proliferation of cultured human cancer cells in vitro.
Design: A randomly selected 96-well plate or a culture dish of various types of human cancer cell lines in culture
were exposed to Johrei treatment. For comparison purpose, an equal number of untreated or volunteer-treated
cultures were chosen as the control group. Johrei treatment was repeatedly performed at appropriate time
intervals over the course of the experiments. Cell viability was examined by a colorimetric assay with a Cell
Counting kit. Morphological changes were analyzed by phase-contrast and time-lapse microscopy. Cell proliferation and early and late stages of cell death were also determined with the use of a bromodeoxyuridine
(BrdU) cell proliferation assay kit and an Annexin V-FLUOS Staining kit, respectively.
Outcome measures: Quantitative data were presented as means standard deviation. The outcome measures
were the differences in viable cell numbers that remained under healing practice versus control conditions, and
the statistical significance of differences in their mean values was assessed.
Results: The viability loss of cultured human cancer cells in the Johrei group was significantly higher than that of
either of the control groups, despite the fact that the responsiveness to Johrei varied with different cancer cell
types. The proliferation rate of gastric cancer cells exposed to Johrei treatments for 72 hours was more significantly decreased compared with that of the untreated cells, whereas the extent of dying and/or dead cells in the
Johrei group was more profound than that of the untreated cells.
Conclusions: These results provide evidence that Johrei treatment induces the viability loss of various cancer cells
in vitro, mainly due to the increased cell death and the decreased proliferation.

Introduction

lternative energy healing methods including Reiki

and Johrei are increasingly popular in the world as a potentially useful intervention to achieve good health.113 The
Japanese energy healing method known as Johrei was founded
by Mokichi Okada (18821955) in 1935. According to Okada
doctrine, Johrei is essentially a method of spiritual purification
attained by the transmission of divine energies without
touching the recipient through the hand of practitioners,
thereby contributing to the achievement or sustenance of a
state of health. While the majority of reports suggest beneficial
effects of Johrei on various human psychologic and physical
conditions,8,9,1315 only a limited number of studies evidencing
such beneficial effects by use of generally accepted scientific

methods are available. In particular, it is not clear whether or to

what extent nonspecific factors based on the healerrecipient
relationshipincluding belief, expectation, and other psychologic aspectsaffect the results obtained with human subjects.
Accordingly, to minimize such psychologic and artificial effects
and to verify beneficial effects of Johrei on the health of recipients, various approaches based on generally accepted scientific
methods are needed. The in vitro studies with single cell lines
have a great advantage over in vivo studies with human subjects and are highly effective for replications and verifications
of these experiments, since such studies are able to be performed under tightly controlled experimental conditions that
minimize psychologic and artificial aspects. In addition, researchers conducting the biologic assays and statistical analyses could be readily blinded to the experimental conditions.

Proteolysis Research Laboratory, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan.
*These authors contributed equally to this work.

221

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Despite little scientific evidence showing the existence of
Johrei energy, it was hypothesized that if its purported universal healing energy may be transmitted to the targets
through the hand of the Johrei practitioner, it may directly
interact with cells in culture, thereby leading to particular
alterations of their structure or function. In this study, the
culture system of various human cancer cell lines was utilized and the effect of Johrei treatment on the viability, proliferation, and death of the cultured cancer cells were
investigated.
Materials and Methods
Participants
The Johrei healing method was performed by 6 trained
Johrei practitioners who were qualified by the Japanese Johrei
Society Sekai Kyusei Kyo Izunome. The mean age of these
practitioners was 54.1 years, with a range of 4063 years. All
of the practitioners had more than 10 years experience
treating people with Johrei. They concentrated on the transmission of Johrei healing energy to cultures by means of

FIG. 1. Effect of healing treatments of

each of the volunteer operators without
switching with the team members on the
viability of human gastric cancer AGS
cells. The cultured cells seeded in 96-well
plates at a density of 2000 cells/well (A)
and 3500 cells/well (B) in a volume of
100 lL were subjected to twice-daily
treatments of 15 minutes by each of the
volunteer operators. Volunteer operators
who participated in the experiments A
and B were different from each other.
Other details are the same as described in
Fig. 2. A. Lane 1, control; lane 2, volunteer
A; lane 3, volunteer B; lane 3, volunteer C.
B. lane 1, control; lane 2, volunteer D; lane
3, volunteer E; lane 4, volunteer F. Data
are the means standard deviation of
values for eight independent experiments
in the respective experiments A and B,
and 24 96-well plates were used in each
experiment. *p < 0.05, and ***p < 0.001
versus the corresponding values for the
untreated cells.

ABE ET AL.
Ohikari, a symbolic tool given to the practitioner qualified to
deliver this energy. Cancer cells seeded in 96-well plates or
l-dishes (ibidi, Martinsried, Germany) at appropriate densities were exposed to twice-daily Johrei healing treatments of
15 minutes (total 30 minutes per day) from approximately
15 cm away. The experiments took place over a period of 3 or
4 days. An equal number of unexposed plates and dishes
were standing very far apart from the practitioners in the
same laboratory and served as the control group. In some
experiments, 6 volunteer operators who had no experience
treating people with any energy healing methods and who
did not wear Ohikari were chosen as another control group.
During healing sessions, each member of the volunteer
group was asked to treat cell cultures in the same way as the
practitioners did. In experiments in Figure 1, each member in
both groups was given separate plates.
Culture conditions
A human gastric carcinoma cell line (AGS) was obtained
from DS Pharma Biomedical Co. (Osaka, Japan). The human
uterine cervix epithelioid carcinoma cell line HeLa, the

EFFICACY OF JOHREI ON THE VIABILITY OF CANCER CELLS

223

Table 1. Responsiveness of Various Types of Cancer Cells to Johrei Treatments

Source
Human

Mouse

Cell line

Cancer cell type

Susceptibility to Johrei

AGS
U937
HeLa
PC-3
ALVA-41
PPC-1
B16

Gastric cancer
Malignant lymphoma
Uterine cervix epitheloid carcimona
Prostate carcinoma
Prostate carcinoma
Prostate carcinoma
Melanoma

+++
++
+++
+
++
+
++

Each cultured cell was seeded in a 96-well plate in a volume of 100 lL at optimal density (human gastric carcinoma cell line [AGS], 2000
cells/well; HeLa and U937, 1500 cells/well; ALVA-41, PPC-1 and PC-3, 500 cells/well; mouse B16 melanoma, 800 cells/well) and cultured in
the same medium at 37C for 72 hours in a 5% CO2 incubator. During the incubation, each plate of cultured cells was subjected to twice-daily
15-minute Johrei healing-intention treatments. An equal number of unexposed cultures that were not treated by either the practitioners or the
volunteer operators were chosen as controls and processed under the same conditions as the Johrei group. Based on the ratio of the viable cell
number between the Johrei group and the control group, the relative responsiveness of each cell type to Johrei treatment was expressed as the
ratio to that of AGS cells and classified into three groups: + , low responsiveness ( < 40% of that for AGS cells); + + , moderate responsiveness
(40%80%); + + + , high responsiveness (more than 80%).

human malignant lymphoma U937, and mouse B16 melanoma cells were from RIKEN BioResource Center (Tsukuba,
Japan). The human prostate carcinoma cell line PC-3 was
obtained from Human Science Research Resources Bank
(Tokyo, Japan). Two (2) human prostate carcinoma cell lines
(ALVA-4116 and PPC-117) were kindly provided by J.Y. Bahk
(Gyeogsang National University, Korea) with the permission
of their original developers. Each of the cell lines was incubated at 37C for 24 hours in Dulbeccos modified Eagles
medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, penicillin (100 U/mL), and streptomycin (100 lg/mL) in a 5%
CO2 incubator. Then the cells were seeded in a 96-well plate
in a volume of 100 lL at an appropriate density (AGS, 2000
3000 cells/well; HeLa and U937, 10001500 cells/well;
ALVA-41, PPC-1 and PC-3, 5001000 cells/well; B16 melanoma, 8001500 cells/well) and cultured in the same medium
at 37C for *96 hours in a 5% CO2 incubator. These plates
were randomized to the Johrei and control groups. Each plate
of the Johrei group was subjected to twice-daily Johrei application for 15 minutes. An equal number of untreated plates
were allowed to stand far apart from the practitioners in
the same laboratory and served as the control (Table 1,
Figs. 26). As another control group, each of the volunteer
operators treated an equal number of plates in the same way
as the practitioners did.

Time-lapse microscopy
For a time-lapse analysis, AGS cells seeded in a l-dish and
cultured at 37C for 24 hours in a 5% CO2 incubator were
transferred to a time-lapse microscope (Olympus IX81, Tokyo,
Japan) equipped with a heated stage, a 5% CO2 incubation
chamber, and a Plexiglas (acrylic plastic) environment
chamber. Johrei treatments were administered 3 times a day for
a total of 45 minutes (15 minutes for each) toward the incubation chamber from a short distance (Fig. 7B). The experiments
took place over a period of 3 days. An untreated dish exposed
to neither the practitioners nor the volunteers was incubated in
the same way (Fig. 7A). Live cells were observed under the
Olympus IX81 microscope with differential interference contrast objectives (10X) and the images were collected with a

Measurement of cell viability and proliferation

At each time point, cultures treated by both groups were
subjected to cell viability assay using the Cell Counting kit8 reagent (Dojindo Molecular Technologies, Kumamoto,
Japan). After the addition of the reagent (10 lL) to each
well, cells were incubated for an additional 1 hour. Then
the absorbance was determined on a microplate reader
(Model 680, Bio Rad Laboratory, Tokyo, Japan) at the
wavelength of 450 nm with a reference wavelength at
650 nm.18 The cell viability was also determined with the
use of an Annexin V-FLUOS Staining kit (Enzo Life Sciences International, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, PA) for detecting early and late stages of cell death, according to the
manufacturers instruction. Cell proliferation was determined with the use of a bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) cell
proliferation assay kit (Exalpha Biologicals, Inc., Watertown, MA), according to the manufacturers instruction.

FIG. 2. Effect of Johrei intention on the viability of human

gastric cancer AGS cells. After incubation at 37C for 24 hours
in a 5% CO2 incubator, the cells were seeded in 96-well plates
at a density of 2500 cells/well in a volume of 100 lL and
exposed to twice-daily Johrei treatments of 15 minutes by the
practitioners. Each practitioner was switched every 24 hours
with the other team member. An equal number of cultures
that were not treated by either the practitioners or the volunteer operators were chosen as the control group (filled circles) and processed under the same conditions as the Johrei
group (open circles). At the indicate time intervals, the cell
viability was determined with a colorimetric assay using a
Cell Counting kit-8. Data are the means standard deviation
of values for eight independent experiments, and 24 96-well
plates were used in each experiment. *p < 0.05, and **p < 0.01,
versus the corresponding values for the control group.

224

ABE ET AL.

FIG. 3. Effect of Johrei treatments by

each of the practitioners without
switching with the team members on
the viability of human gastric cancer
AGS cells. The cultured cells seeded in
96-well plates at a density of 2000
cells/well in a volume of 100 lL were
exposed to twice-daily Johrei healing
intention treatments of 15 minutes by
each individual practitioner. An equal
number of untreated cells in culture
were chosen as the control group and
processed under the same conditions
as the Johrei group. Other details are
the same as described in Figure 2. A.
Lane 1, control; lane 2, Johrei practitioner A; lane 3, Johrei practitioner B;
lane 3, Johrei practitioner C. NS, not
significant. B. Lane 1, control; lane 2,
Johrei practitioner D; lane 3, Johrei
practitioner E; lane 4, Johrei practitioner F. Data are the means standard deviation of values for eight
independent experiments, and 24 96well plates were used in each experiment. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and
***p < 0.001 versus the corresponding
values for the control group.

cooled CCD video camera DP30 (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) at

10-minute intervals for 72 hours mounted on a time-lapse imaging system and saved as image stacks and then analyzed
using MetaMorpho software (Molecular Devices).
Statistical analysis
Quantitative data are presented as means standard deviation. Results from cell viability experiments were compared
between the Johrei group and either of the control groups. The
statistical significance between mean values of either of the
two groups was analyzed by the Welchs two-sample t-test.
Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results
Effect of Johrei treatment on viability
of human cancer cell lines
It is generally accepted that the viable cell number is determined by the balance between proliferating and dying
cells. It was first found that the responsiveness of cultured
cancer cells to Johrei treatment varied with different cell types.
To determine whether Johrei treatment has a direct effect on

the viability of cultures of various human cancer cell lines, the

concentration of cultured cells seeded in 96-well plates were
optimized. After several trials, the optimal density of each
cancer cell type was determined as described in the Materials
and Methods section. AGS cells seeded in 96-well plates at a
density of 2500 cells/well were exposed to twice-daily Johrei
healing intention treatments of 15 minutes by each practitioner who was then switched every 24 hours with the other
team members. An equal number of untreated cultures chosen as the control group were standing for the same intervals
as those treated by the practitioner. As shown in Fig. 2, while
the number of viable AGS cells in both groups was timedependently increased during the experimental period, the
increasing rate of viable cells in the Johrei group was significantly lower than that in the control group.
To investigate whether the decrease in viable AGS cells by
the practitioners could also be induced by Johrei treatments
of each of the practitioners without switching with the team
members, AGS cells were exposed to twice-daily 15-minute
Johrei treatments by each practitioner. Although the survival
rate of the cells was to an appreciable extent different among
the practitioners, the number of viable AGS cells treated by
all of the practitioners was significantly lower than that of

EFFICACY OF JOHREI ON THE VIABILITY OF CANCER CELLS

225

FIG. 4. Morphological assessment of Johrei-treated human gastric cancer AGS cells and the untreated cells by differential
interference contrast microscopy. The cultured cells were seeded in a l-dish in a volume of 2 mL at a density of 4500 (A) and 6000
cells/dish (B). The cells were exposed to twice-daily Johrei treatments of 15 minutes for 72 hours. A Johrei practitioner was switched
every 24 hours with the other team member. An equal number of the untreated cells in culture were chosen as the control group
and processed under the same conditions as the Johrei group. Photographs represent the representative results from experiments
performed with five independent pairs of AGS cells. Magnification 100.
the untreated cells (Fig. 3A and B). Moreover, when AGS
cells were exposed to twice-daily 15-minute healing intention
treatments by 6 volunteer operators chosen as another control group, the number of viable AGS cells was not significantly changed by the treatment of each of the volunteer
operators (Fig. 1A, B). However, as exceptional instances, the
number of viable cells was significantly decreased at 1 day
after the treatment by the volunteer operator A and inversely

increased at 2 days after the treatment by the volunteer operators C and F and at 3 days after the treatment by the
volunteer operator E.
Morphological assessment
Morphological analysis revealed that the number of AGS
cells in the Johrei group at 72 hours after incubation was

FIG. 5. A cell proliferation assay of Johrei-treated and -untreated human gastric cancer AGS cells with the use of a BrdU assay
kit. The cultured cells were seeded in a 96-well plate in a volume of 100 lL at a density of 3000 cells/well and then incubated at
37C for 24 hours in a CO2 incubator. Then, the cells were exposed to twice-daily 15-minute Johrei treatments. An equal number
of untreated cells in culture were chosen as the control group and processed under the same conditions as the Johrei group. BrdU
was added to the cultured cells at 24 and 72 hours after the initial treatment and further incubated at 37C for 16 hours in a CO2
incubator. After fixation, amounts of the BrdU incorporated into the cells were quantified with the use of anti-BrdU detection
antibody. Lane 1, control; lane 2, Johrei practitioner A; lane 3, Johrei practitioner B; lane 4, Johrei practitioner C. Data are the
means standard deviation of values for three independent experiments, and 24 96-well plates were used in each experiment.
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001, versus the corresponding values for the control group.

226

ABE ET AL.

FIG. 6. A quantitative cell death analysis of Johrei-treated and -untreated human gastric cancer AGS cells with the use of an
Annexin V-FLUOS Staining kit. Cultured AGS cells exhibited higher rates of cell death with Johrei treatments. The cells
cultured for 72 hours in a l-dish were subjected to quantitative cell death analysis with the use of an Annexin V-FLUOS
Staining kit for detecting early (yellow arrows) and late stages of cell death (red arrows). An equal number of untreated cells
in culture were chosen as the control group and processed under the same conditions as for the Johrei group. Other details are
the same as described in Fig. 4. The relative ratio of dying and/or dead cells to viable cells is significantly low in untreated
cells (A), whereas that ratio is extremely high in Johrei-treated cells (B). The data represent the representative results from
experiments with five independent pairs of AGS cells. Magnification 100.

FIG. 7. Time-lapse microscopy analysis of human gastric cancer AGS cells. AGS cells were seeded in a l-dish (35-mm
diameter) in a volume of 2 mL at a density of 4500 and incubated at 37C for 24 hours in a CO2 incubator. Then the dish was
transferred from the incubator to a time-lapse microscope equipped with a heat stage and incubation chamber. Johrei
treatments were administered 3 times a day for a total of 45 minutes (15 minutes for each) toward the incubation chamber
from a short distance (B). An equal number of untreated cells in culture were chosen as the control group and processed
under the same conditions as the Johrei group (A). To monitor the progression of proliferation of AGS cells, time-lapse
microscopy with differential interference contrast objectives (10 ) was performed. Images were collected with a cooled CCD
video camera at 10-minute intervals for 72 hours mounted on a time-lapse imaging system and saved as image stacks and
then analyzed using MetaMorpho software. Photographs represent the representative results from experiments with five
independent pairs of AGS cells and are shown as images of every 3.13 hours.

EFFICACY OF JOHREI ON THE VIABILITY OF CANCER CELLS

apparently lower than that in the untreated group (Fig. 4). To
determine whether the observed difference between the
Johrei group and either of the two control groups was actually related to altered cell viability, movies of actively proliferating AGS cells were generated using time-lapse
microscopy. Johrei treatments were administered by the Johrei
group members in 3 times daily treatments of 15 minutes
toward the incubation chamber from a short distance. Figure
7 shows the same time picture frames selected every 80
minutes from images of cultured AGS cells that were collected with a cooled CCD video camera at 10-minute intervals for 72 hours. The untreated cells were time-dependently
increased and actively fused and consolidated into larger
masses during this period of time (Fig. 7A). By contrast, the
Johrei-treated cells were more slowly increased compared
with those in the control group over the same time intervals
(Fig. 7B). Strikingly, most of the proliferating AGS cells in the
Johrei group appeared to be restricted in their movement at
the early stage and to be unable to progress further morphologically. It is also noteworthy that significant amounts
of Johrei-treated AGS cells rotated freely at the early stage
and ultimately died.
Measurement of proliferation and early
and late stages of cell death
To determine whether the decreased viability of AGS cells
applied to Johrei treatments was due to the decrease in the
proliferation extent and/or the increase in the extent of cell
death, cell proliferation and death assays were performed
with the use of a BrdU assay kit and an Annexin V-FLUOS
Staining kit for detecting cell death, respectively. BrdU is
known to be incorporated into newly synthesized DNA
strands of actively proliferating cells. As shown in Figure 5,
the incorporated BrdU levels in the cells treated by each of
the Johrei practitioners at 24 hours were significantly higher
than those in untreated cells. However, the BrdU levels in
Johrei-treated cells at 72 hours were apparently lower than
those in untreated cells. The results strongly suggest that
Johrei application to the cells increases their proliferation at
early stages of the treatments but decreases it at late stages of
the repeated treatments. To further determine the induction
of cell death by Johrei treatments, AGS cells cultured for 72
hours in a l-dish were evaluated with the use of an Annexin
V-FLUOS Staining kit for detecting early and late stages of
cell death. The data in Fig. 6 demonstrate that the relative
ratio of dying and/or dead cells to viable cells is significantly
low in untreated cells, whereas it is extremely high in Johreitreated cells. The results clearly indicate that Johrei treatments
induce not only the reduction of the number of viable cells
but also the increase of dying and/or dead cells.
Susceptibility of various cancer cell types
to Johrei treatments
It is generally considered that the number of viable cancer
cells depends on a balance between the Johrei energy to induce the viability loss of cancer cells and their proliferation
activity. Therefore, if the Johrei energy exceeds the proliferation potency of cancer cells, the number of viable cells could
be decreased. If the latter is superior to the former, on the
contrary, the viable cell number could be increased. It was
thus determined whether the viability loss of AGS cells in-

227

duced by repeated Johrei treatments was common to other

cancer cell types and whether and to what extent various
cancer cell types were susceptible to Johrei treatments. Each
cancer cell type was seeded in 96-well plates at an optimal
density in a volume of 100 lL and was exposed to twicedaily 15-minute Johrei treatments by each of the practitioners,
who were switched every 24 hours with the other team
members. An equal number of untreated cultures were
chosen as controls. Of human cancer cell types, AGS and
HeLa cells showed the highest susceptibility to Johrei treatments (Table 1). Among three human prostate carcinoma cell
lines, ALVA-41, which was androgen dependent, and welldifferentiated carcinoma cells originated from bone metastasis had relatively high responsiveness to Johrei treatments.
By contrast, PC-3 and PPC-1, which were androgen independent and poorly differentiated carcinoma cells originated
from bone metastasis and primary prostate carcinoma, respectively, showed the most resistance to Johrei treatments,
thus resulting in only a little viability loss. Mouse B16 melanoma cells showing resistance to cathepsin Emediated
TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand)-dependent apoptosis19 had a relatively high responsiveness to Johrei treatments. The results thus suggest that
Johrei treatments can induce the viability loss of all the cultured cancer cell types tested, although the responsiveness to
Johrei treatments varies with cancer cell types.
Discussion
Given the difficulty in replications and verifications of
in vivo studies, especially with human subjects, various approaches based on generally accepted scientific methods are
necessary to verify the suggestive value of Johrei practice. In
this study, the culture system of various cancer cell lines was
used and the first evidence of the positive effect of Johrei
treatments on the viability loss of various cancer cells in vitro
were provided. In pilot experiments, it was noticed that the
effect of Johrei treatment on the viability of various cancer cell
types is variable, depending on experimental conditions
employed (e.g., the cell density seeded in wells of plates or
l-dishes, and the frequency and duration of Johrei treatment).
Therefore, the optimal conditions of Johrei experiments for
each type of cancer cells had to be determined. The present
results clearly demonstrated that the viability of all the
cancer cell types tested was significantly decreased by Johrei
treatments performed under such optimal conditions, although their responsiveness to Johrei practice appeared to
vary with different cancer cell types. AGS and HeLa cells
showed the highest susceptibility to Johrei treatments, and
ALVA-41 had a relatively high responsiveness to Johrei
treatments. By contrast, PC-3 and PPC-1 showed the most
resistance to Johrei treatments. A previous scientific study with
computerized time-lapse microscopy revealed that the cell
death and proliferation rates of cultured human brain cancer
cells (SF188GBM) were not significantly changed by Johrei
treatment and suggested that the failure to observe evidence
of a reproducible cellular response to Johrei treatment was due
to a significant difference in cell division in the baseline period
between control and Johrei treated samples.10 The difference in
the efficacy of Johrei practices on cancer cells between the
previous and present studies is most likely to arise from the
differences in experimental conditions.

228
Meanwhile, it was revealed that the viability loss of AGS
cells induced by the alternate intention of the practitioners
was also induced by each of the practitioners without
switching with the team members. Interestingly, the extent of
the viability loss of AGS cells appeared to vary with each of
the Johrei practitioners. The viability loss of AGS cells by
Johrei treatments was further substantiated by morphological
analysis with the use of differential interference contrast
microscopy and time-lapse microscopy. Strikingly, the results with time-lapse microscopy clearly demonstrated that
the viability loss of the cells by Johrei treatments was apparent after 24 hours of incubation.
Next, the possible mechanism for the viability loss of AGS
cells by repeated Johrei treatments was investigated by both
cell proliferation and death assays with the use of a BrdU
assay kit and an Annexin V-FLUOS Staining kit, respectively.
The extent of proliferation was apparently decreased at 72
hours after Johrei treatments compared with untreated cells.
By contrast, the number of dying and/or dead cells was
markedly increased in Johrei-treated cells compared with untreated cells. The results strongly suggest that the decrease in
viable AGS cells in the Johrei group is mainly due to the reduced proliferation and the increased cell death. Considering
that the practitioners applied Johrei to cancer cells only with
the intention of doing transmission of its healing energy and
that they were not informed about the type (either normal or
abnormal cells) and nature (malignancy) of cells used until the
end of the said experiment, they are unlikely intending either
healing or killing to have occurred. It is also assumed that
the pleiotropic, beneficial influences of Johrei healing energy
might be complex because it dynamically interacts with various cellular molecules through regulatory, buffering, and
feedback mechanisms. At present, it is not clear how Johrei
treatment induces the viability loss of cancer cells, but the
authors believe that the underlying mechanism will be addressed in a subsequent work.
Conclusions
In vitro studies using various human cancer cell lines indicate
that Johrei treatment induces the viability loss of these cells,
which is associated with increased cell death and decreased
proliferation. The results may support the suggestive value of
Johrei practice for maintaining good health. To better understand the beneficial efficacy of Johrei in human health, further
studies are needed to elucidate whether and how Johrei treatment affects the viability of normal human cells in culture.
Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
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Address correspondence to:

Kenji Yamamoto, PhD
Proteolysis Research Laboratory
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Kyushu University
Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582
Japan
E-mail: kyamamot@phar.kyushu-u.ac.jp

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