CANNABINOIDS POTENTIAL ANTICANCER AGENTS!

Prelude to Manuel Guzman article (from Nature Magazine); Please also see here in from Milan

Why is it that we like things that are bad for us? Take smoking for example; there is a devastating link between smoking and cancer but, despite hard-hitting health campaigns, the global consumption of cigarettes is rising. In Nature Magazine Oct.03 on page 733, Stephen Hecht attributes this to the deadly combination of nicotine addiction and the high carcinogen levels in tobacco. Smoking has produced strong evidence linking carcinogen exposure with cancer deaths and is a powerful model for understanding carcinogenesis.

Many parallels have been drawn between tobacco and cannabis. But, although smoking cannabis might be as harmful as smoking cigarettes (no empirical evidence has ever backed this, hence HempPharm.com is surprised this is still used as an argument, one which is not based in reality when you do the research. Ed.), cannabis actually has wide-ranging benefits as a cancer treatment (thus, is this a surprise? -HempPharm.com Ed.). The palliative effects of cannabis have been recognized for thousands of years and are caused by unique compounds called cannabinoids. Manuel Guzmán describes, below, how cannabinoids exert palliative effects in patients with cancer. In addition, these compounds have a direct anti-tumour effect in preclinical studies and are being investigated in clinical trials:

CANNABINOIDS: POTENTIAL ANTICANCER AGENTS

Manuel Guzmán about the author: Manuel Guzmán is Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Madrid Complutense University, Spain. He received his Ph.D. from Complutense University in 1990 for his research on lipid metabolism in the liver. Since then, his research has focused on the mechanism of cannabinoid action in unravelling the signalling mechanisms involved in the control of cell fate by cannabinoids and establishing the preclinical basis for clinical trials on cannabinoids and cancer.

Preface Cannabinoids — the active components of Cannabis sativa and their derivatives — exert palliative effects in cancer patients by preventing nausea, vomiting and pain and by stimulating appetite. In addition, these compounds have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumour cells in culture and animal models by modulating key cell-signalling pathways. Cannabinoids are usually well tolerated, and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional chemotherapies. So, could cannabinoids be used to develop new anti-cancer therapies?

Summary:

Cannabinoids, the active components of Cannabis sativa and their derivatives, act in the organism by mimicking endogenous substances, the endocannabinoids, that activate specific cannabinoid receptors.
Cannabinoids exert palliative effects in patients with cancer and inhibit tumour growth in laboratory animals.
The best-established palliative effect of cannabinoids in cancer patients is the inhibition of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Today, capsules of 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (dronabinol (Marinol)) and its synthetic analogue nabilone (Cesamet) are approved for this purpose.
Other potential palliative effects of cannabinoids in cancer patients — supported by Phase III clinical trials — include appetite stimulation and pain inhibition. In relation to the former, dronabinol is now prescribed for anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS.
Cannabinoids inhibit tumour growth in laboratory animals. They do so by modulating key cell-signalling pathways, thereby inducing direct growth arrest and death of tumour cells, as well as by inhibiting tumour angiogenesis and metastasis.
Cannabinoids are selective antitumour compounds, as they can kill tumour cells without affecting their non-transformed counterparts. It is probable that cannabinoid receptors regulate cell-survival and cell-death pathways differently in tumour and non-tumour cells.
Cannabinoids have favourable drug-safety profiles and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional chemotherapies. The use of cannabinoids in medicine, however, is limited by their psychoactive effects, and so cannabinoid-based therapies that are devoid of unwanted side effects are being designed.
Further basic and preclinical research on cannabinoid anticancer properties is required. It would be desirable that clinical trials could accompany these laboratory studies to allow us to use these compounds in the treatment of cancer.

This material came from a free summary posted at www.Nature.com. Please read the actual article by clicking here!

*Industrial-Hemp has no psychoactive properties following definition of the European Economic Community (EEC); THC content is less than 0.3%. In general, low THC-seed varieties without psychoactive properties are those that have a THC content of less than 1%. (See also No-THC Hemp-seed.) THC= Delta-9 TetraHydroCannabinol.