“Providers need to be better equipped to discuss medical cannabis with patients even if they are not willing to prescribe it. The oncology community would be well served to ensure that providers are aware of existing cannabis research and are able to incorporate it into their communications with patients instead of leaving patients to figure out medical cannabis on their own.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32986251/
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.33204
“Background: Little is known about medical cannabis (MC)-related care for patients with cancer using MC.
Methods: Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted in a convenience sample of individuals (n = 24) with physician-confirmed oncologic diagnoses and state/district authorization to use MC (Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, New York, and Washington, DC) from April 2017 to March 2019. Standard qualitative techniques were used to assess the degree of MC-related health care oversight, MC practices, and key information sources.
Results: Among 24 participants (median age, 57 years; range, 30-71 years; 16 women [67%]), MC certifications were typically issued by a professional new to a patient’s care after a brief, perfunctory consultation. Patients disclosed MCuse to their established medical teams but received little medical advice about whether and how to use MC. Patients with cancer used MC products as multipurpose symptom management and as cancer-directed therapy, sometimes in lieu of standard-of-care treatments. Personal experimentation, including methodical self-monitoring, was an important source of MC know-how. Absent formal advice from medical professionals, patients relied on nonmedical sources for MC information.
Conclusions: Patients with cancer used MC with minimal medical oversight. Most received MC certifications through brief meetings with unfamiliar professionals. Participants desired but were often unable to access high-quality clinical information about MC from their established medical teams. Because many patients are committed to using MC, a product sustained by a growing industry, medical providers should familiarize themselves with the existing data for MM and its limitations to address a poorly met clinical need.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32986266/
“Notably, oncology patients reported using medical cannabis (MC) for symptom management and as cancer‐directed therapy, sometimes instead of traditional treatments.”
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.33202
“Cannabidiol (CBD), a natural occurring phytocannabinoid, is used extensively in consumer products ranging from foods to shampoos, topical oils and lotions.
Several studies demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties of cannabidiol. Nevertheless, the role of cannabidiol use in sunscreens is largely unknown as no studies on its effect on keratinocytes or melanocytes exist. As such, we aimed to explore the effect of CBD on keratinocyte and melanocyte viability following ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation.
CBD exhibited a dose-dependent protective effect on both keratinocytes and melanocyte viability. Further, since CBD does not demonstrate absorption in the UVB spectra, we speculate that the protective effect is due to reduction in reactive oxygen species.
To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the protective effect of CBD on keratinocytes and melanocytes irradiated with UVB.”
“Melanoma is the fourth most common type of cancer diagnosed in Australians after breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. While there has been substantial progress in the treatment of cancer in general, malignant melanoma, in particular, is resistant to existing medical therapies requiring an urgent need to develop effective treatments with lesser side effects.
Several studies have shown that “cannabinoids”, the major compounds of the Cannabis sativaL. plant, can reduce cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in melanoma cells.
Despite prohibited use of Cannabis in most parts of the world, in recent years there have been renewed interests in exploiting the beneficial health effects of the Cannabis plant-derived compounds. Therefore, the aim of this study was in the first instance to review the evidence from in vivo studies on the effects of cannabinoids on melanoma.
The findings revealed cannabinoids, individually or combined, reduced tumor growth and promoted apoptosis and autophagy in melanoma cells.
Further preclinical and animal studies are required to determine the underlying mechanisms of cannabinoids-mediated inhibition of cancer-signaling pathways. Well-structured, randomized clinical studies on cannabinoid use in melanoma patients would also be required prior to cannabinoids becoming a viable and recognized therapeutic option for melanoma treatment in patients.”
“In recent years, and even more since its legalization in several jurisdictions, cannabis and the endocannabinoid system have received an increasing amount of interest related to their potential exploitation in clinical settings. Cannabinoids have been suggested and shown to be effective in the treatment of various conditions. In cancer, the endocannabinoid system is altered in numerous types of tumours and can relate to cancer prognosis and disease outcome. Additionally, cannabinoids display anticancer effects in several models by suppressing the proliferation, migration and/or invasion of cancer cells, as well as tumour angiogenesis. However, the therapeutic use of cannabinoids is currently limited to the treatment of symptoms and pain associated with chemotherapy, while their potential use as cytotoxic drugs in chemotherapy still requires validation in patients. Along with cannabinoids, cannabis contains several other compounds that have also been shown to exert anti-tumorigenic actions. The potential anti-cancer effects of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids, present in cannabis, are explored in this literature review.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32708138/
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/7/1985
“The recent announcement of marijuana legalization in Canada spiked many discussions about potential health benefits of Cannabis sativa. Cannabinoids are active chemical compounds produced by cannabis, and their numerous effects on the human body are primarily exerted through interactions with cannabinoid receptor types 1 (CB1) and 2 (CB2). Cannabinoids are broadly classified as endo-, phyto-, and synthetic cannabinoids. In this review, we will describe the activity of cannabinoids on the cellular level, comprehensively summarize the activity of all groups of cannabinoids on various cancers and propose several potential mechanisms of action of cannabinoids on cancer cells.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32249682
“Endocannabinoids and phytocannabinoids can be used for cancer therapy. Cannabis extracts have stronger anti-tumor capacity than single cannabinoids. Combination of several cannabinoids may have more potent effect on cancer.”
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15384101.2020.1742952?journalCode=kccy20
“The legalisation of cannabis in a growing number of jurisdictions has led to increasing interest in its potential therapeutic effects in a range of disorders, including cutaneous conditions. Cannabinoids have been used as natural medicines for centuries; however, their biological activity in the skin is a new area of study.
Recent data suggest that cannabinoids are involved in neuro-immuno-endocrine modulation of skin functioning, yet their effect on the features of dermatologic conditions is unclear. This article sought to review the mechanisms by which cannabinoids regulate skin functioning through the lens of relevance to treatment of dermatologic diseases looking at the effects of cannabinoids on a range of cellular activities and dermatologic conditions both in vitro and in vivo.
We identified studies demonstrating an inhibitory effect of cannabinoids on skin inflammation, proliferation, fibrosis, pain, and itch-biological mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of many dermatologic conditions.
Cannabinoids have the potential to expand the therapeutic repertoire of a wide spectrum of skin disorders. Given their widespread unregulated use by the general public, basic and clinical studies are required to elucidate the effectiveness and long-term effects of topical and systemic cannabinoids in cutaneous disorders.”
“Cannabinoids are increasingly-used substances in the treatment of chronic pain, some neuropsychiatric disorders and more recently, skin disorders with an inflammatory component.
This paper aims to detail and clarify the complex workings of cannabinoids in the molecular setting of the main dermatological inflammatory diseases, and their interactions with other substances with emerging applications in the treatment of these conditions. Also, the potential role of cannabinoids as antitumoral drugs is explored in relation to the inflammatory component of skin cancer.
In vivo and in vitro studies that employed either phyto-, endo-, or synthetic cannabinoids were considered in this paper. Cannabinoids are regarded with growing interest as eligible drugs in the treatment of skin inflammatory conditions, with potential anticancer effects, and the readiness in monitoring of effects and the facility of topical application may contribute to the growing support of the use of these substances.
Despite the promising early results, further controlled human studies are required to establish the definitive role of these products in the pathophysiology of skin inflammation and their usefulness in the clinical setting.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32033005
https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/3/652
“Cannabinoid Signaling in the Skin: Therapeutic Potential of the “C(ut)annabinoid” System” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6429381/
“In recent years, the endocannabinoid system has received great interest as a potential therapeutic target in numerous pathological conditions.
Cannabinoids have shown an anticancer potential by modulating several pathways involved in cell growth, differentiation, migration, and angiogenesis.
However, the therapeutic efficacy of cannabinoids is limited to the treatment of chemotherapy-induced symptoms or cancer pain, but their use as anticancer drugs in chemotherapeutic protocols requires further investigation.
In this paper, we reviewed the role of cannabinoids in the modulation of signaling mechanisms implicated in tumor progression.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31979368
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/3/747
“In addition to the symptomatic therapy of cancer patients, the antitumor effects of cannabinoids (whether in monotherapy or in combination with other cancer therapies) have promising potential in the treatment of cancer patients.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31950844
“In addition to the well-known palliative effects of cannabinoids on some cancer-associated symptoms, a large body of evidence shows that these molecules can decrease tumour growth in animal models of cancer. In addition, cannabinoids inhibit angiogenesis and decrease metastasis in various tumour types in laboratory animals. Thus, numerous studies have provided evidence that thc and other cannabinoids exhibit antitumour effects in a wide array of animal models of cancer.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791144/
“Antitumour actions of cannabinoids.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30019449
“The endocannabinoid system as a target for the development of new drugs for cancer therapy” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12723496
“Cannabinoids as Anticancer Drugs.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28826542
“Cannabis is increasingly being used world-wide to treat a variety of dermatological conditions. Medicinal cannabis is currently legalized in Canada, 31 states in America and 19 countries in Europe. The authors reviewed the literature on the pharmacology and use of cannabinoids in treating a variety of skin conditions including acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, skin cancer, pruritus, and pain. Cannabinoids have demonstrated anti-inflammatory, antipruritic, anti-ageing, and antimalignancy properties by various mechanisms including interacting with the newly found endocannabinoid system of the skin thereby providing a promising alternative to traditional treatments.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31599175
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09546634.2019.1675854?journalCode=ijdt20