“New study suggests that several cannabinoids slow or kill malignant cells.”
“Recent research gives new hope and meaning to the phrase “medical marijuana.”
In a paper published in October’s Anticancer Research, Wai Liu, a senior research fellow at St. George’s University of London, reports that he found six cannabinoids – active components of the cannabis plant – that can slow or outright kill cancer cells.”
More: http://mag.newsweek.com/2013/11/01/cannabis-cure-cancer.html
The anti-cancer properties of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary hallucinogenic component of cannabis, has been recognised for many years, but research into similar cannabis-derived compounds, known as cannabinoids, has been limited.
The study was carried out by a team at St George’s, University of London. It has been published in the journal Anticancer Research.
The team, led by Dr Wai Liu and colleagues carried out laboratory investigations using a number of cannabinoids, either alone or in combination with each other, to measure their anti-cancer actions in relation to leukemia.
Of six cannabinoids studied, each demonstrated anti-cancer properties as effective as those seen in THC. Importantly, they had an increased effect on cancer cells when combined with each other.”
More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131014094105.htm
“Debate is just beginning in Washington over how medical marijuana will be grown and distributed now that the rules for the recreational market are established. Meanwhile, research into medical benefits of compounds within the cannabis plant continues to show effectiveness.
Effectiveness against pain in its many forms and other side effects of major diseases – or the palliative side of marijuana use – have been pretty well established, but can marijuana directly take on a disease as big, scary and deadly as cancer?
“What we’ve shown using just a few of these (cannabis) compounds is that the effects against cancer are really profound. They really are,” said Dr. Wai Liu, a senior research fellow at St George’s University of London.
Anticancer success
Quick note: Cannabinoids are the chemicals in marijuana that have effects in the body, some have psychoactive (or make you high) effects such as THC, and others such as CBD don’t have psychoactive effects but do interact with the body’s “cannabinoid receptors.” There are more than 85 “cannabinoids” in marijuana.
Liu’s most recent published research “explored the activity of six cannabinoids, used both alone and in combination in leukaemic cells.” The research was published in Anticancer Research: International Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment.
He said the anticancer activity of THC has been “known for sometime” but that THC’s psychoactive effect or tendency to get you high limits its use as a cancer-fighting agent. That’s partly due to the negative social stigma about getting high and, of course, not everyone wants to experience a high.
So, he set out to explore the cancer fighting ability of other cannabinoids that don’t get you high.
“We have shown that these six other agents that lack psychoactivity are also just as effective as an anti-cancer agent,” he said. Chief among the six was cannabidiol or CBD.”
“Studies that support marijuana’s medicinal properties are met with a great deal of skepticism due to cannabis’ hallucinogenic effects. Researchers from St. George’s University of London have isolated six non-hallucinogenic cannabinoids that could lead to the development of effective anti-cancer medication.
“This study is a critical step in unpicking the mysteries of cannabis as a source of medicine,” explained the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Wai Liu. “The cannabinoids examined have minimal, if any, hallucinogenic side effects, and their properties as anti-cancer agents are promising.””
“As new studies are released showing just how miraculous the compounds of marijuana are, the argument for legalized marijuana or at least legal access to medicinal marijuana seems to build a little more each month.
One new study, from researchers with Saint George’s University of London and published in Anticancer Research, reveals how various compounds within cannabis are able to work together to kill human leukemia cells.
The study looked at three non-psychoactive cannabinoids, including cannabidiol, cannabigerol, and cannabigevarin. These compounds were tested on two leukemia cell lines where they acted synergistically to fight the cancerous cells.
According to a press release from the University, these “non-hallucinogenic components of cannabis could act as effective anti-cancer agents.””
Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/cannabinoids-marijuana-kill-leukemia-cancer-cells/
“Compounds derived from marijuana can kill cancerous cells in patients with leukemia, according to a recent study.
The study, published in the Anticancer Research journal, was partially funded by GW Pharmaceuticals. which already produces a cannabis-derived drug to help people with multiple sclerosis. Dr. Wai Liu studied six different non-psychoactive cannabinoids (compounds derived from marijuana that don’t get the user high like its THC component does). He found that certain non-psychoactive cannabinoids “resulted in dramatic reductions in cell viability” and “caused a simultaneous arrest at all phases of the cell cycle,” according to the study summary posted online.
Leukemia will take the lives of an estimated 23,720 people this year.
This isn’t the first time marijuana has been linked to deterring cancer: In 2012, researchers at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco found that CBD — a non-psychoactive chemical compound found in cannabis — can stop metastasis in some kinds of aggressive cancer. Liu told the Huffington Post that smoking cannabis is unlikely to have the same cancer-inhibiting effect.”
http://healthland.time.com/2013/10/28/study-marijuana-compounds-can-kill-some-cancer-cells/
“Researcher says cannabinoids might treat cancer as well as billion-dollar drugs.”
“A British researcher has found that cannabinoids, a term for chemicals derived from marijuana, can kill leukemia cells, and he expects clinical trials for new medications to begin soon.
The findings, published in the October issue of Anticancer Research: International Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment, show that certain non-psychoactive cannabinoids “resulted in dramatic reductions in cell viability” and “caused a simultaneous arrest at all phases of the cell cycle,” according to an abstract posted online.
The study tested six cannabinoids, together and independently, on leukemia cells. Study author Wai Liu, an oncologist at the University of London’s St. George’s medical school, told U.S. News the chemicals displayed “potent anti-cancer activity” and, significantly, “target and switch off” pathways that allow cancers to grow.”
More: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/24/study-cannabis-compounds-can-kill-cancer-cells
“Air Pollution From Traffic Linked With Childhood Cancer” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/air-pollution-traffic-childhood-cancer_n_3039048.html
“X-Rays Linked to Increased Childhood Leukemia Risk” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101004101324.htm
“Survival at a Cost: Common Cancer Treatment Carries Huge Risks” http://abcnews.go.com/Health/radiation-therapy-linked-development-secondary-cancers-heart-disease/story?id=15864706
“Treatments linked to the development of second cancers”
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/medicaltreatments/secondcancerscausedbycancertreatment/second-cancers-caused-by-cancer-treatment-treatments-linked-to-second-cancers
“Higher lymphoma risk for those living close to benzene-releasing sites, Georgia study finds” http://medcitynews.com/2013/07/higher-lymphoma-risk-for-those-living-close-to-benzene-releasing-sites-georgia-study-finds/
“Home distance from benzene sites linked to lymphoma risk”
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_139158.html
“Benzene Linked to Childhood Leukemia”
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20040818/benzene-linked-to-childhood-leukemia
“Leukemia and Benzene” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447593/
“Insufficient Vitamin D Levels in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients Linked to Cancer Progression and Death”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104094038.htm
“Mayo Clinic Finds Insufficient Vitamin D Levels in CLL Patients Linked to Cancer Progression and Death”
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2010-rst/6033.html
Be aware: http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/leukemia/
“Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids exert pro-apoptotic actions in tumor cells via the CB2 cannabinoid receptor…
Here we used the human leukemia cell line Jurkat-that expresses CB2 as the unique CB receptor-to investigate…
In summary, results presented here show that CB2 receptor activation signals apoptosis via a ceramide-dependent stimulation of the mitochondrial intrinsic pathway.”
“Cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 are part the endocannabinoid system that plays an important role in the process of proliferation and apoptosis of different neoplastic cells. B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is one of the diseases in which these processes are altered… The aim of our study was the assessment of cannabinoid receptor expression on the B-lymphocytes in bone marrow trephine biopsy from leukaemic patients at diagnosis and after purine analogue treatment….
The study provides original evidence for the existence of cannabinoid receptors on B-lymphocytes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients. The receptors are thought to be a new structure that can modify the course of the disease and may be considered as a new target in leukaemia treatment.”