TRP Channel Cannabinoid Receptors in Skin Sensation, Homeostasis, and Inflammation.

“In the skin, cannabinoid lipids, whether of endogenous or exogenous origin, are capable of regulating numerous sensory, homeostatic and inflammatory events.

Although many of these effects are mediated by metabotropic CB receptors, a growing body of evidence has revealed that multiple members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel family can act as “ionotropic cannabinoid receptors”.

Furthermore, many of these same TRP channels are intimately involved in cutaneous processes that include the initiation of pain, temperature, and itch perception, the maintenance of epidermal homeostasis, the regulation of hair follicles and sebaceous glands, and the modulation of dermatitis.

Ionotropic cannabinoid receptors therefore represent potentially attractive targets for the therapeutic use of cannabinoids to treat sensory and dermatological diseases.

Furthermore, the interactions between neurons and other cell types that are mediated by cutaneous ionotropic cannabinoid receptors are likely to be recapitulated during physiological and pathophysiological processes in the central nervous system and elsewhere, making the skin an ideal setting in which to dissect general complexities of cannabinoid signaling.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24915599

Endocannabinoid system in cancer cachexia.

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“More than 60% of advanced cancer patients suffer from anorexia and cachexia.

This review focuses on the possible mechanisms by which the endocannabinoid system antagonizes cachexia-anorexia processes in cancer patients and how it can be tapped for therapeutic applications.

Cannabinoids stimulate appetite and food intake…

Cannabinoid type 1 receptor activation stimulates appetite and promotes lipogenesis and energy storage.

Further study of cancer-cachexia pathophysiology and the role of endocannabinoids will help us to develop cannabinoids without psychotropic properties, which will help cancer patients suffering from cachexia and improve outcomes of clinical antitumor therapy.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17563462

The endocannabinoid signaling system in cancer.

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“The endocannabinoid system, comprising lipid-derived endocannabinoids, their G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and the enzymes for their metabolism, is emerging as a promising therapeutic target in cancer.

This report highlights the main signaling pathways for the antitumor effects of the endocannabinoid system in cancer and its basic role in cancerpathogenesis, and discusses the alternative view of cannabinoid receptors as tumor promoters.

We focus on new players in the antitumor action of the endocannabinoid system and on emerging crosstalk among cannabinoid receptors and other membrane or nuclear receptors involved in cancer.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23602129

Anticancer activity of anandamide in human cutaneous melanoma cells.

“Cannabinoids are implicated in the control of cell proliferation, but little is known about the role of the endocannabinoid system in human malignant melanoma. This study was aimed at characterizing the in vitro antitumor activity of anandamide (AEA) in A375 melanoma cells…

 Overall, these findings demonstrate that AEA induces cytotoxicity against human melanoma cells in the micromolar range of concentrations through a complex mechanism, which involve COX-2 and LOX-derived product synthesis and CB1 activation. Lipid raft modulation, probably linked to GPR55 activation, might also have a role.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24041928

Therapeutic potential of cannabinoid medicines.

Drug Testing and Analysis

“Cannabis was extensively used as a medicine throughout the developed world in the nineteenth century but went into decline early in the twentieth century ahead of its emergence as the most widely used illicit recreational drug later that century. Recent advances in cannabinoid pharmacology alongside the discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) have re-ignited interest in cannabis-based medicines.

The ECS has emerged as an important physiological system and plausible target for new medicines. Its receptors and endogenous ligands play a vital modulatory role in diverse functions including immune response, food intake, cognition, emotion, perception, behavioural reinforcement, motor co-ordination, body temperature, wake/sleep cycle, bone formation and resorption, and various aspects of hormonal control. In disease it may act as part of the physiological response or as a component of the underlying pathology.

In the forefront of clinical research are the cannabinoids delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, and their contrasting pharmacology will be briefly outlined. The therapeutic potential and possible risks of drugs that inhibit the ECS will also be considered. This paper will then go on to review clinical research exploring the potential of cannabinoid medicines in the following indications: symptomatic relief in multiple sclerosis, chronic neuropathic pain, intractable nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weight in the context of cancer or AIDS, psychosis, epilepsy, addiction, and metabolic disorders.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24006213

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.1529/abstract

Cannabis Ingredient Can Help Cancer Patients Regain Their Appetites And Sense Of Taste

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“The active ingredient in cannabis can improve the appetites and sense of taste in cancer patients, according to a new study published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology  today.

Loss of appetite is common among cancer patients, either because the cancer itself or its treatment affects the sense of taste and smell, leading to decreased enjoyment of food. This, in turn, can lead to weight loss, anorexia, a worse quality of life and decreased survival; therefore, finding effective ways of helping patients to maintain a good diet and consume enough calories is an important aspect of their treatment.

The majority of THC-treated patients (64%) had increased appetite, three patients (27%) showed no change, and one patient’s data was incomplete. No THC-treated patients showed a decrease in appetite. By contrast, the majority of patients receiving placebo had either decreased appetite (50%) or showed no change (20%).

Although there was no difference in the total number of calories consumed by both groups, the THC-treated patients tended to increase the proportion of protein that they ate, and 55% reported that savoury foods tasted better, whereas no patients in the placebo group reported an increased liking for these foods. (Cancer patients often find that meat smells and tastes unpleasant and, therefore, they eat less of it).

In addition, THC-treated patients reported better quality of sleep and relaxation than in the placebo group.”

More:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/217062.php

Intractable nausea and vomiting due to gastrointestinal mucosal metastases relieved by tetrahydrocannabinol (dronabinol).

“Four years following resection of a Clark’s level IV malignant melanoma, a 50-year-old man developed widespred metastatic disease involving the liver, bones, brain, gastrointestinal mucosa, and lungs. One week after whole brain radiation therapy, he was admitted to the hospital for nausea, vomiting, and pain.

He was treated with several antiemetic drugs, but it was not until dronabinol was added that the nausea and vomiting stopped.

Dronabinol was an effective antiemetic used in combination with prochlorperazine in nausea and vomiting unresponsive to conventional antiemetics.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9392925

“Miracle” Cannabis Oil: May Treat Cancer, But Money and the Law Stand in the Way of Finding Out

“Cannabis oil, which cancer-sufferers credit with saving their lives, and which is supposedly useful in healing other ailments, from diabetes to skin rashes, is made by distilling raw bud down to its essential ingredients.”

 

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“First it was a cough. Then it was bronchitis. Then it was time to say goodbye to Michelle Aldrich.

The year 2011 was supposed to be a good one for the 66-year-old. That June, she and her husband, Michael, were feted with a lifetime achievement award by High Times magazine for their four decades of work on marijuana legalization. Yet something was off. She was smoking a lot, maybe more than ever.

And she couldn’t get high.

In the fall of that year — a bad time for the local marijuana movement, as the federal Justice Department began shutting down hundreds of California medical cannabis dispensaries — Aldrich went in to see a series of doctors for what she thought was a flu that just refused to go away.

After six weeks of progressively worse diagnoses — flu became bronchitis, which became pneumonia — a CT scan revealed the cause behind the “heat” she felt in the middle of her chest. A tumor, “poorly-differentiated non-small cell adenocarcinoma.” In other words, stage 3 lung cancer.

Lung cancer is a killer, with nearly 70 percent of new cases resulting in deaths, according to statistics published by the National Cancer Institute. “I thought I was going to die,” Aldrich says from her Marina District apartment. But she didn’t. And now, she is busy telling anyone who will listen that, along with diet and chemotherapy, a concoction of highly concentrated cannabis oil eliminated her cancer in less than four months.”

More: http://www.sfweekly.com/2013-04-24/news/key-words-cannabis-oil-cure-cancer-constance-finley/full/

Fighting Cancer: Another Study Reveals the Cannabis and Cancer Prevention Link

“Does marijuana cause cancer? Revealing the link between cannabis and cancer yet again, researchers with the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco have released findings that further bolster cannabis as an anti-cancer solution.
The researchers have found a compound in the much-talked-about plant could “halt the spread” of many types of aggressive cancers, including breast cancer.

The Cannabis and Cancer Link

Cannabidiol is the compound, and while it fights cancer cells, it does not produce the high feelings commonly associated with cannabis. Instead, it seems to “switch off” the gene responsible for metastasizing breast cancer.

They reportedly found the compound doesn’t only stop the breast cancer cells from growing, but even causes them to return back to normal cells, cancer-free.”

More: http://naturalsociety.com/study-positive-cannabis-and-cancer-link/