Cannabinoids in pancreatic cancer: Correlation with survival and pain

“Cannabinoids exert antiproliferative properties in a variety of malignant tumors, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma … Cannabinoids can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells…Furthermore, they have been shown to decrease invasiveness of cancer cells.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2225529/?tool=pubmed 

Anti-tumoral Action of Cannabinoids

“Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active component of marijuana… Here, we show that intratumoral administration of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol… induced a considerable regression of malignant gliomas… Cannabinoid treatment did not produce any substantial neurotoxic effect… cannabinoids signal apoptosis (cell death/suicide) by a pathway involving cannabinoid receptors… These results may provide the basis for a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of malignant gliomas.”

‎”Remarkably, cannabinoids kill glioma cells selectively and can protect non-transformed glial cells from death…”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10700234

CANNABINOIDS: POTENTIAL ANTICANCER AGENTS

The study by Manuel Guzmán of Madrid Spain found that cannabinoids, the active components of marijuana, inhibit tumor growth in laboratory animals. They do so by modulating key cell-signalling pathways, thereby inducing direct growth arrest and death of tumor cells, as well as by inhibiting the growth of blood vessels that supply the tumor.

http://americanmarijuana.org/Guzman-Cancer.pdf 

Anti-tumoral action of cannabinoids on hepatocellular carcinoma: role of AMPK-dependent activation of autophagy

“Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third cause of cancer-related death worldwide… few therapeutic options are available… we investigated the effects of cannabinoids–a novel family of potential anticancer agents–on the growth of HCC. We found that Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ(9)-THC, the main active component of Cannabis sativa)… reduced the viability of the human HCC cell lines…cannabinoids were also able to inhibit tumor growth… Our findings may contribute to the design of new therapeutic strategies for the management of HCC.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21475304

The emerging role of the endocannabinoid system in cardiovascular disease

“… the EndoCannabinoid System has been implicated in a growing number of physiological functions of the nervous system and various peripheral organs, and its modulation turned out to hold tremendous therapeutic promise in a wide range of disparate diseases and pathological conditions, ranging from mood and anxiety disorders, movement disorders, neuropathic pain, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury to cancer, glaucoma, osteoporosis, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, stroke, hypertension, and obesity/ metabolic syndrome to name just a few…”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2791499/?tool=pubmed

The endocannabinoid system in prostate cancer

“Accumulating evidence indicate that the endocannabinoid system is dysregulated in prostate cancer… Overexpression of several components of the endocannabinoid system correlate with prostate cancer grade and progression, potentially providing a new therapeutic target for prostate cancer… several cannabinoids exert antitumoral properties against prostate cancer, reducing xenograft prostate tumor growth, prostate cancer cell proliferation and cell migration… the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids against prostate cancer is very promising…”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21912423