Active Ingredient in Marijuana Kills Brain Cancer Cells
Experts say finding worth further study,
but patients shouldn’t light up just yet.
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
New research out of Spain suggests that THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — appears to prompt the death of brain cancer cells.
The finding is based on work with mice designed to carry human cancer tumors, as well as from an analysis of THC’s impact on tumor cells extracted from two patients coping with a highly aggressive form of brain cancer.
Explaining that the introduction of THC into the brain triggers a cellular self-digestion process known as “autophagy,” study co-author Guillermo Velasco said his team has isolated the specific pathway by which this process unfolds, and noted that it appears “to kill cancer cells, while it does not affect normal cells.”
Velasco is with the department of biochemistry and molecular biology in the School of Biology at Complutense University in Madrid. The findings were published in the April issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The Spanish researchers focused on two patients suffering from “recurrent glioblastoma multiforme,” a fast-moving form of brain cancer. Both patients had been enrolled in a clinical trial designed to test THC’s potential as a cancer therapy.
Using electron microscopes to analyze brain tissue taken both before and after a 26- to 30-day THC treatment regimen, the researchers found that THC eliminated cancer cells while it left healthy cells intact.
The team also was able, in what it described as a “novel” discovery, to track the signaling route by which this process was activated.
These findings were replicated in work with mice, which had been “engineered” to carry three different types of human cancer tumor grafts.
“These results may help to design new cancer therapies based on the use of medicines containing the active principle of marijuana and/or in the activation of autophagy,” Velasco said.
Outside experts suggested that more research is needed before advocating marijuana as a medicinal intervention for brain cancer.
Dr. John S. Yu, co-director of the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program in the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said the findings were “not surprising.”
“There have been previous reports to this effect as well,” he said. “So this is yet another indication that THC has an anti-cancer effect, which means it’s certainly worth further study. But it does not suggest that one should jump at marijuana for a potential cure for cancer, and one should not urge anyone to start smoking pot right away as a means of curing their own cancer.”
But that’s exactly what many brain cancer patients have been doing, said Dr. Paul Graham Fisher, the Beirne Family director of Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University.
“In fact, 40 percent of brain tumor patients in the U.S. are already using alternative treatments, ranging from herbals to vitamins to marijuana,” he said. “But that actually points out a cautionary tale here, which is that many brain cancer patients are already rolling a joint to treat themselves, but we’re not really seeing brain tumors suddenly going away as a result, which we clearly would’ve noticed if it had that effect. So we need to be open-minded. But this suggests that the promise of THC might be a little over-hoped, and certainly requires further investigation before telling people to go out and roll a joint.”
source = U.S.News
Original article Open Access = Journal of Clinical Investigation 7
Posted in Marijuana
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Smoking grass was quite common until the vulture capitalists raged against it to protect their business interests and destroyed it as a fiber source as well as a food and medicine source. Now, as capitalism reveals itself to the world for what it really is, many things will change, planned obsolescence in motor cars, hemp farming, night shifts for profits sake, environmental rip offs like strip coal mining, and the world of labor will go back to a peaceful time, where craft guilds and unions were loved and respected, laborers valued, and buss were the norm. America is convulsing as we speak, the “Corvette” – enslaver of millions, is dead! It is a time of great change with a time of great rejoicing to follow!
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 am
well geez
I guess we know who’s high…….
pot’s legalization won’t fix the world buddy
neither will the collapse of the world’s economy but i guess we’re all hoping
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Sean,
I can’t see where he said that pots legalization will fix the world. He simply said it’s illegal because of our arbitrary social system.
The collapse of the world’s economy could definitely save the world. Maybe we will restart with sustainability instead of individual profit.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Way to go, Sean. Way to fling poo like a monkey at someone you disagree with. Bad monkey! Actually, the fact that cannabis is illegal is *part* of the reason why the world economy HAS collapsed. ‘Oops’ on your part. The reason why the world is out of money is because the drug cartels have it all!
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Thanks very for this website !
Always publicizing interesting news !!!
: P
April 4th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Well, it is a fact that THC is the cure for many diseases. But do you know what happens when THC is activated in the body?
The cancer has an own aura and THC can connect to this aura and read the code. The control of the code is the cure. And with that, THC is eliminating the cells of cancer.
April 5th, 2009 at 11:44 am
It is also potentially damaging to normal brain function – one of the main reasons it is not well regarded – the other conspiracies are just a sideshow.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
THC has also been shown to slow the onset of late-life disease, like Parkinson’s.
And no, Nightowl, it doesn’t. The ‘Pot will make you stupid permanently’ campaign is propoganda. The dumbing effects are temporary. And quite hilarious.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Smoke All Day You Will Never Get Sick
April 9th, 2009 at 9:44 am
I’ve been tracking most of the news on this subject for a while now. I would suggest you check out the report Dan Rather did on this subject a year or two ago. His show is on HDNet in case some don’t know you can find some stories here and go their store to buy the video about pot. http://www.hd.net/danrather.html
April 9th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Here is the URL for the HDnet store and the episode is #206 it costs $9.95 USD + shipping well worth the investment
http://hdnet-store.stores.yahoo.net/danrare.html
April 25th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Great article. Great website!
Have you ever checked out http://www.luminousnuminous.com ?
You might like it.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
That’s some powerful research. Let’s see if it helps to end the war on drugs, since it has been a miserable failure day one.
June 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
grrr sean and nightowl…this stuf would save the world and millions from cancer and depression and much more and here you are trying to stop the world being saved, trying to stop people from being killed by cancer, consumed by alcohol and tobacco and the sichk life that u making worse damn u ’sean,
+ nightowl’ damn you
October 29th, 2009 at 1:03 am
well said pherase