RANTES (CCL5) — A Lab Test For Our Times
The chances are, unless you are a dental researcher, you may not have heard of Rantes. What is it? Rantes (also known as CCL-5) is a cytokine i.e. chemical messenger secreted by immune and non immune cells in response to infection.
Cytokines are the unsung heroes of the immune system as they act like first responders to a pathogen invasion. On detecting a pathogen, cytokines radiate out from cells like a kind of wifi signal. They then attach to specific areas on cells and work together to give instructions to cells on how to respond to the invading pathogen. One of the responses they initiate is inflammation. As cytokines tell blood vessels to be more inflamed, they leak into the surrounding tissues. The leakage allows immune cells to travel to the area under attack and this kickstarts the healing process. Cytokines are normally released slowly to avoid an excess of inflammation known as a ‘cytokine storm’. Studies suggest that ‘cytokine storm’ was a major reason for people dying of severe Covid infection.
Two sources of Rantes - Teeth and Retroviruses
Dentist and researcher Dr Johann Lechner published a number of studies showing that infected teeth produce excessive levels of Rantes. Dr Lechner found that jawbone infections from improper dental extractions and root canal fillings breed retroviruses, secrete Rantes into the system with severe consequences. Retroviruses are viruses that convert their own RNA into DNA once in the host’s cell. They are a major factor in chronic infections like Lyme disease, Epstein Barr Virus and other co-infections.
Dr Lechner found that if there were no active areas of infection, there was no elevation of Rantes. He observed that although Rantes was elevated in jawbone infections, acute inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 and Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF alpha) were not raised, which is why this kind of inflammation is painless and called ‘silent jawbone infection!’
Rantes has been linked to the following illnesses in scientific papers:
Cancers: Over 23,000 papers link Rantes to cancers, 14,000 to breast cancer, 10,000 to prostate cancer, 10,000 to colorectal cancer.
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) - a progressive neurological disease.
Multiple sclerosis - DR Lechner postulates Rantes as a major driver of MS.
Cardiovascular disease - the link between dental infections and heart disease is well-documented in medicine and dentistry. That is why dentists prescribe antibiotics for patients with heart disease before dental treatments to reduce the risk of infections migrating to the tissues of the heart.
Rheumatoid arthritis.
Brain inflammatory diseases.
Chronic infections of all kinds.
Covid-19 - studies have shown that Covid is very much a Rantes disease e.g. critically ill patients with Covid had 100 times higher than normal levels of Rantes and 5 times the normal level of Rantes even in mild-moderate Covid disease.
Dr Lechner’s conclusion is that dental infection is a fundamental cause of inflammatory diseases and that there is a need to raise awareness about jawbone infections throughout medicine and dentistry. How many people with chronic disease are also walking around with silent jawbone infections? Unfortunately, many of the dental infections that secrete Rantes are not detectable on routine dental X-rays. Therefore, the advice is to seek a diagnosis from a Biological dentist who is trained in detecting and treating hidden jawbone infection.
Rantes test at Good Health Clinic
Nowadays, it is easier than ever to get a Rantes test in the UK. This test can be used to gain additional evidence for the presence of hidden dental infections or retroviral activation as in Long Covid.
The Rantes test will shortly be available as a new stand-alone blood test via the Academy of Nutritional Medicine (AONM) for Good Health Clinic patients to access from February, 2023.
For more information:
If you would like more information about lab tests available, please contact the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com.