Can Pot Cure Cancer ? early tests are very positive

[Frazz]

Can Pot Cure Cancer?

by Lisa Zyga, January 08, 2008

 

The compounds in cannabis are already known to alleviate the pain from cancer and other illnesses, but now some studies have found that cannabis may also stop tumor cells from growing and getting out of control, as normally happens in untreated cancer.

 

In one of the latest studies, researchers Robert Ramer and Burkhard Hinz from the Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Rostock in Germany have found that cannabinoid compounds, such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and methanandamide (MA), can cause the regression of highly invasive cancers, including cervical cancer and lung carcinoma.

 

In the current study, Ramer and Hinz performed an in vitro study on the cervical cancer cell line HeLa, and found that in vitro HeLa cells incubated with small amounts (oral doses) of THC or MA showed diminished cancer cell invasion through a cell membrane after 24 hours. After 72 hours, they found that cancer cell invasiveness was diminished by up to 68% with THC treatment and 62% with MA treatment.

 

Inhibition of Cancer Cell Invasion by Cannabinoids

Robert Ramer, Burkhard Hinz ... Correspondence to: Burkhard Hinz, PhD, Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology, University of Rostock, Schillingallee 70, Rostock D-18057, Germany (e-mail: burkhard.hinz@med.uni-rostock.de).

 

Background: Cannabinoids, in addition to having palliative benefits in cancer therapy, have been associated with anticarcinogenic effects. Although the antiproliferative activities of cannabinoids have been intensively investigated, little is known about their effects on tumor invasion.

 

Results: Without modifying migration, MA and THC caused a time- and concentration-dependent suppression of HeLa cell invasion through Matrigel that was accompanied by increased expression of TIMP-1. At the lowest concentrations tested, MA (0.1 µM) and THC (0.01 µM) led to a decrease in invasion (normalized to that observed with vehicle-treated cells) of 61.5% (95% CI = 38.7% to 84.3%, P < .001) and 68.1% (95% CI = 31.5% to 104.8%, P = .0039), respectively. The stimulation of TIMP-1 expression and suppression of cell invasion were reversed by pretreatment of cells with antagonists to CB1 or CB2 receptors, with inhibitors of MAPKs, or, in the case of MA, with an antagonist to TRPV1. Knockdown of cannabinoid-induced TIMP-1 expression by siRNA led to a reversal of the cannabinoid-elicited decrease in tumor cell invasiveness in HeLa, A549, and C33A cells.

 

Conclusion: Increased expression of TIMP-1 mediates an anti-invasive effect of cannabinoids. Cannabinoids may therefore offer a therapeutic option in the treatment of highly invasive cancers.

 

Original Document has been peer reviewed and can be found here ; http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/djm268v1

 

Author: Robert Ramer, Burkhard Hinz

Date: published online on December 25, 2007

Source: JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Oxford Journals.

Copyright: Oxford University Press 2007

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sounds pretty promising to me and another good reason to keep toking .. why is it not headlines in national news?