Anti-cancer reagents are
a hot topic, and newer and better alternative cancer treatments are trying to
be found. One possibility of a new anti-cancer reagent is the use of
cannabinoids in marijuana. Marijuana is currently illegal to use in
hospitals in the U.S because of government issues
with the drug, but it may have some beneficial side effects when using
it against cancer. It has been tested on
animals such as mice and rats and has shown to be a possible tumor
inhibitor. Marijuana may be able to prevent the spread of cancer in humans, and may
have beneficial uses in the fight against cancer.
There has been clinical
evidence of the effectiveness of marijuana treatments done on mice and rats
that shows that cannabinoids undergoes a mechanism that can inhibit tumor
growth due to cancer cells. This mechanism promotes apoptic death on
cancer cells and inhibits angiogenesis as well as the spreading of the cancer
cells themselves. The specific cannabinoids in this study were THC
(Tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (Cannabidiol). Both of these cannabinoids were
tested to treat rats and to see if they are effective in preventing cancer growth. Microencapsulated
cannabinoids containing THC and CBD were prepared and injected into the
cancerous sections of the mice. The capsules containing these two
cannabinoids effectively counteracted the cancer growth in the mice.
Microsphere capsules permitted the cannabinoids to be released into the
cancerous sites effectively without being degraded. This is
important because a lot of alternative cancer treatments are degraded by water
and bodily chemicals before getting to the desired cancer site. This
study suggests that putting these two cannabinoids into microcapsules enable
effective concentrations of cannabinoids to fight off the cancer. If
the cannabinoids can get to the desired site safely, their anticancer effects
can effectively take action. The results and conclusion of this
study show that in vivo administration of these two cannabinoids does
effectively reduce cancer, and it can be used as an anti-cancer treatment of
some form (de la Ossa, 2013). As one can see, marijuana as potential in
being an anti-cancer drug. More research just needs to be allowed to see
if this possibility is feasible in humans.
The link for this
article is: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.dml.regis.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d16ee931-db49-4120-b7c5-110def03439b%40sessionmgr4001&vid=24&hid=4104
It is extremely interesting that marijuana has this anti-cancer potential. Marijuana also has been shown to be beneficial to cancer patients in other ways too. I always think of the scene from the movie 50/50 in which the main character and older chemo patients are sitting around and eating different edibles that one of the older man's wife had made them. This has scientific backing as well, marijuana has been shown to be more beneficial than other medicines used during chemotherapy to help fight nausea and other adverse effects. It also can be used to enhance the mood of the patients during this process. A link for a study that tested this can be found here: http://www.bmj.com/content/323/7303/16?variant=full
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting due to the ability of cannibis to cross the blood brain barrier. What pathways are activated by cannibis? I am curious as to whether this can be retrospectively tested in humans. Marijuana, as Ashley stated above, has been used to treat the symptoms of different cancers. I wonder if it would be feasible to look at the scans of patients using medical marijuana to treat cancerous symptoms, and measure the growth of the tumor. Obviously, this would be easier than going through IRBs(....!!!), and I think this presents an intriguing possibility. Brain cancers are characteristically tough to treat. The next question I have is if a chemo drug can be coated in a cannibis-like substance which would 1) enable it to cross the blood brain barrier and 2) possibly provide some cancer-fighting functions!
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