Tag Archives: anticancer

Cannabinoids (Marijuana Compounds) Lead to Leukemia Cancer Cell Destruction

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marijuana anti cancer 263x166 Cannabinoids (Marijuana Compounds) Lead to Leukemia Cancer Cell Destruction

 “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/

Cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid compound, affects metalloproteinases and pro-survival intracellular pathways in u87-mg human glioma cell line

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“Malignant gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors… Recently, we have shown that the non-psychoactive cannabinoid compound cannabidiol (CBD) induced apoptosis of human glioma cells in vitro and tumor regression in vivo…the present study was to investigate the anti-migratory action of CBD…

 In conclusion, the present investigation adds further insights into the antitumoral action of the non-psychoactive CBD, showing multiple mechanisms through which the cannabinoid inhibits glioma cell growth and motility.

As CBD is a natural compound without psychotropic and side effects, these data lead us to consider CBD as a new potential anticancer drug useful in the management of gliomas.”

http://air.unimi.it/handle/2434/142533

Critical appraisal of the potential use of cannabinoids in cancer management

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“Cannabinoids have been attracting a great deal of interest as potential anticancer agents. Originally derived from the plant Cannabis sativa, there are now a number of endo-, phyto- and synthetic cannabinoids available. This review summarizes the key literature to date around the actions, antitumor activity, and mechanisms of action for this broad range of compounds…

Two therapeutic avenues exist for the development of cannabinoids as anticancer agents. As antiemetic and analgesic compounds, this class of compounds has been explored in terms of palliative care. More recently, cannabinoid agonists and antagonists have been screened for potential direct antitumorigenic properties.

… results suggest that overall the cannabinoids affect multiple cellular signaling pathways, which means they have the potential to decrease cancer development, growth, and metastasis.

Overall, the cannabinoids may show future promise in the treatment of cancer, but there are many significant hurdles to be overcome. There is much still to be learned about the action of the cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system.

It is a distinct possibility that the cannabinoids may have a place in the future treatment of cancer.”

Full Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3770515/

Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-Induced Apoptosis in Jurkat Leukemia T Cells Is Regulated by Translocation of Bad to Mitochondria

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“Cannabinoids, the biologically active constituents of marijuana (Cannabis sativa)…

Plant-derived cannabinoids, including Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), induce apoptosis in leukemic cells…

cannabinoids were shown to inhibit the proliferation of several human cancer cell lines, including leukemia…

Together, these data suggested that Raf-1/MEK/ERK/RSK-mediated Bad translocation played a critical role in THC-induced apoptosis in Jurkat cells…

THC and other cannabinoids can induce apoptosis in a variety of tumor cell lines, thereby raising the possibility of the use of cannabinoids as novel anticancer agents…”

Full text: http://mcr.aacrjournals.org/content/4/8/549.long

Targeting CB2 cannabinoid receptors as a novel therapy to treat malignant lymphoblastic disease

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“In the current study, we examined whether ligation of CB2 receptors would lead to induction of apoptosis in tumors of immune origin and whether CB2 agonist could be used to treat such cancers.

 Exposure of murine tumors EL-4, LSA, and P815 to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in vitro led to a significant reduction in cell viability and an increase in apoptosis…

Culture of primary acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells with THC in vitro reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis.

Together, the current data demonstrate that CB2 cannabinoid receptors expressed on malignancies of the immune system may serve as potential targets for the induction of apoptosis. Also, because CB2 agonists lack psychotropic effects, they may serve as novel anticancer agents to selectively target and kill tumors of immune origin.”

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/100/2/627.long

“We examined whether treatment of tumor-bearing mice with THC was effective at killing tumor cells in vivo… These data suggest that THC was effective in vivo to induce apoptosis and kill the tumor cells… THC treatment can cure tumor-bearing mice… they were completely cured…Taken together, these results suggest that THC can exert anticancer properties in vivo.” http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/100/2/627.long?sso-checked=1

 

Anticancer activity of anandamide in human cutaneous melanoma cells.

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“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

Pot Slows Cancer in Test Tube – WebMD

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“THC and another marijuana-derived compound slow the spread of cervical and lung cancers, test-tube studies suggest.

The new findings add to the fast-growing number of animal and cell-culture studies showing different anticancer effects for cannabinoids, chemical compounds derived from marijuana.

Cannabinoids, and sometimes marijuana itself, are currently used to lessen the nausea and pain experienced by many cancer patients. The new findings — suggest that cannabinoids may have a direct anticancer effect.

“Cannabinoids’ … potential therapeutic benefit in the treatment of highly invasive cancers should be addressed in clinical trials,” conclude Robert Ramer, PhD, and Burkhard Hinz, PhD, of the University of Rostock, Germany…

Doses of THC that reduce pain in cancer patients yield blood concentrations much higher than the concentrations needed to inhibit cancer invasion.

“Thus the effects of THC on cell invasion occurred at therapeutically relevant concentrations,” Ramer and Hinz note…

Ramer and Hinz report the findings in the Jan. 2, 2008 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.”

More: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20071226/pot-slows-cancer-in-test-tube

“Inhibition of Cancer Cell Invasion by Cannabinoids via Increased Expression of Tissue Inhibitor of Matrix Metalloproteinases-1”: http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/100/1/59.long

Marijuana Inhibits Tumors

The medical necessity for medicinal cannabis: prospective, observational study evaluating the treatment in cancer patients on supportive or palliative care.

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“Cancer patients using cannabis report better influence from the plant extract than from synthetic products… We followed patients with a medicinal cannabis license to evaluate the advantages and side effects of using cannabis by cancer patients…

 All cancer or anticancer treatment-related symptoms showed significant improvement.

 No significant side effects except for memory lessening in patients with prolonged cannabis use were noted.

Conclusion. The positive effects of cannabis on various cancer-related symptoms are tempered by reliance on self-reporting for many of the variables. Although studies with a control group are missing, the improvement in symptoms should push the use of cannabis in palliative treatment of oncology patients.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23956774

Full Text: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/510392/

THC, found in cannabis, shown to be effective in the treatment of brain tumors

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“In 2000, scientists at the Complutense University of Madrid carried out an extensive experiment, testing the effects of THC on cancerous brain cells in laboratory rats. Their discoveries were nothing short of amazing, as THC had effectively managed to destroy all cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
 
 Research into the effects of THC on glioblastoma would have had the potential to revolutionize available cancer treatments, yet due to insufficient funding and poor public exposure, the science team was unable to further their research.Manuel Guzman explained that “cannabinoids are selective antitumor compounds, as they can kill tumor cells without affecting their non-transformed counterparts.” In contrast to this, chemotherapy, the prevalent anticancer treatment of today, consists of a combination of antineoplastic drugs that have devastating physical and psychological side-effects… 
 
THC works by triggering the build-up of a chemical messenger known as ceramide, which in turn induces apoptosis (or programmed cell death) in mutated tumor cells.
Subsequent research into the properties of THC has revealed that it is among the very few naturally occurring, harmless substances that are capable of inducing programmed cell death in cancerous cells. Other substances with this property include anandamide, other cannabinoids and tumor necrosis factors produced by the immune system in its attempt to fight cancer.
 
After months of effort to obtain funding for testing the medical effects of THC on human tissues, the Madrid science team was forced to abandon this project, although there is currently no effective treatment available for malignant brain tumors.” 
 
 

Cannabidiol enhances the inhibitory effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on human glioblastoma cell proliferation and survival

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Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

“Δ9-THC and other cannabinoids can act as direct anticancer agents in multiple types of cancer in culture and in vivo. 

Individually, Δ9-THC and CBD can activate distinct pathways in glioblastoma cells that ultimately culminate in inhibition of cancer cell growth and invasion as well as induction of cell death.

We hypothesized that, if the individual agents were combined, a convergence on shared pathways may ensue leading to an enhanced ability of the combination treatment to inhibit certain cancer cell phenotypes.

We found this to be true in this investigation.

CBD enhances the inhibitory effects of Δ9-THC on glioblastoma cell growth.

Cannabidiol significantly improved the inhibitory effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on glioblastoma cell proliferation and survival.

The Combination Treatment of Δ9-THC and Cannabidiol Inhibits Cell Cycle and Induces Apoptosis.

Our results suggest that the addition of CBD to Δ9-THC may improve the overall effectiveness of Δ9-THC in the treatment of glioblastoma in cancer patients.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2806496/

http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/9/1/180.full

“CBD Enhances the Anticancer Effects of THC”  https://www.scribd.com/document/50154001/CBD-Enhances-the-Anticancer-Effects-of-THC-Journal-MCT-Marcu