MJ Fighting Breast Cancer

[Tom]

A compound found in cannabis may prove to be effective at helping stop the spread of breast cancer cells throughout the body.

 

 

The study, by scientists at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, is raising hope that CBD, a compound found in Cannabis sativa, could be the first non-toxic agent to show promise in treating metastatic forms of breast cancer.

 

“Right now we have a limited range of options in treating aggressive forms of cancer,” says Sean D. McAllister, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at CPMCRI and the lead author of the study. “Those treatments, such as chemotherapy, can be effective but they can also be extremely toxic and difficult for patients. This compound offers the hope of a non-toxic therapy that could achieve the same results without any of the painful side effects.”

 

The researchers used CBD to inhibit the activity of a gene called Id-1, which is believed to be responsible for the aggressive spread of cancer cells throughout the body, away from the original tumor site.

 

“We know that Id-1 is a key regulator of the spread of breast cancer,” says Pierre-Yves Desprez, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at CPMCRI and the senior author of the study. “We also know that Id-1 has also been found at higher levels in other forms of cancer. So what is exciting about this study is that if CBD can inhibit Id-1 in breast cancer cells, then it may also prove effective at stopping the spread of cancer cells in other forms of the disease, such as colon and brain or prostate cancer.”

 

However, the researchers point out that while their findings are promising they are not a recommendation for people with breast cancer to smoke marijuana. They say it is highly unlikely that effective concentrations of CBD could be reached by smoking cannabis. And while CBD is not psychoactive it is still considered a Schedule 1 drug.

 

This study was recently published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

 

The study was primarily funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

 

Adapted from materials provided by California Pacific Medical Center.

 

Author: ScienceDaily

Date: Nov. 23, 2007

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Copyright: © 1995-2007 ScienceDaily LLC

 

[iamnotacop]

Posted by CN Staff on July 06, 2006 at 13:56:45 PT

Weekly Press Release

Source: NORML

 

NORML Cannabinoids Halt Pancreatic Cancer, Breast Cancer Growth, Studies Say

 

July 6, 2006 - Madrid, Spain

 

Madrid, Spain: Compounds in cannabis inhibit cancer cell growth in human breast cancer cell lines and in pancreatic tumor cell lines, according to a pair of preclinical trials published in the July issue of the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

 

In one trial, investigators at Complutense University in Spain and the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) in France assessed the anti-cancer activity of cannabinoids in pancreatic cancer cell lines and in animals. Cannabinoid administration selectively increased apoptosis (programmed cell death) in pancreatic tumor cells while ignoring healthy cells, researchers found. In addition, "cannabinoid treatment inhibited the spreading of pancreatic tumor cells ... and reduced the growth of tumor cells" in animals.

 

"These findings may contribute to ... a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of pancreatic cancer," authors concluded.

 

In the second trial, investigators at Spain's Complutense University reported that THC administration "reduces human breast cancer cell proliferation [in vitro] by blocking the progression of the cell cycle and by inducing apoptosis." Authors concluded that their findings "may set the bases for a cannabinoid therapy for the management of breast cancer."

 

Previous preclinical data published in May in the Journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics reported that non-psychoactive cannabinoids, particularly cannabidiol (CBD), dramatically halt the spread of breast cancer cells and recommended their use in cancer therapy.

 

Separate trials have also shown cannabinoids to reduce the size and halt the spread of glioma (brain tumor) cells in animals and humans in a dose dependent manner. Additional preclinical studies have demonstrated cannabinoids to inhibit cancer cell growth and selectively trigger malignant cell death in skin cancer cells, leukemic cells, lung cancer cells, and prostate carcinoma cells, among other cancerous cell lines.

 

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of both studies, "Cannabinoids induce apoptosis of pancreatic tumor cells via endoplasmic reticulum stress-related genes" and "Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits cell cycle progression in human breast cancer cells through Cdc2 regulation" are available in the July 1, 2006 issue of Cancer Research, available online at: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/

 

Additional information on cannabinoids' anti-cancer properties is available in NORML's report, "Cannabinoids as Cancer Hope," online at:

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6814

 

DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6946

 

 

 

It is encouraging that they are keeping up the research.

I remember reading that President Nixon knew this decades ago and stopped the research from progressing.

Edited November 25, 2007 by iamnotacop