Cancer: Cannabinoids cure cancer?

Cancer: Cannabinoids cure cancer?

Cannabinoids, active components of cannabis and its derivatives, exert palliative effects in patients with cancer by preventing nausea, vomiting and pain and stimulating appetite. In addition, these compounds inhibit the growth of tumor cells in laboratory animals (mice and rats). However, at the moment there is no solid evidence to show that cannabinoids, whether natural or synthetic, can effectively cure cancer to patients, although research is carried out around the world to try to prove it.  Here cannabis cancer research


What is cancer?
Cancer is a broad term used for diseases in which abnormal cells multiply uncontrollably and are often able to invade other tissues, causing metastasis and high rates of mortality and morbidity.Cancer is not a single disease, but many: more than 100 different types have been identified from a histopathological point of view by the WHO and, very likely, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of types according to molecular and genetic profiles.
Most cancers are called by the organ or cell type in which it is initiated. In addition, the different types are usually grouped into the following general categories:
- Carcinoma: cancer that starts in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs.
- Sarcoma: cancer that begins in the bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels or other connective tissue or support.
- Leukemia: cancer that originates in tissues that make up the blood, such as the bone marrow, and cause the production of a large number of abnormal blood cells that are incorporated into the blood.
- Lymphoma and myeloma: cancers that start in the cells of the immune system.
- Cancers of the central nervous system: they originate in the tissues of the brain and spinal cord.

Conclusion: Cancer is a very serious and heterogeneous disease, so its therapeutic struggle remains a very difficult challenge. Therefore, cannabinoids may have beneficial effects on some types of cancer, but not others.

Cannabinoids inhibit the growth of cancer? (Laboratory research)
Virtually all the investigations carried out so far on cannabinoids and cancer cells have been done using cancer cells grown in the laboratory or in animal models . According to many scientific studies, different cannabinoids (natural and synthetic) exert a wide range of inhibitory effects on the growth of cancer cells, including:
- Activation of cell death, through a mechanism called apoptosis.
- Suppression of cell division.
- Inhibition of the formation of new blood vessels in tumors, a process called angiogenesis.
- Reduction of the chances of cancer cells metastasize to the rest of the body, preventing cells from migrating or invading neighboring tissues.
- Acceleration of the internal cellular "waste disposal machine" (process known as autophagy), which can lead to cell death.

Conclusion: Cannabinoids are effective drugs for the treatment of at least some types of cancer in laboratory animals (mice and rats).

Cannabinoids inhibit the growth of cancer? (Anecdotal evidence in humans)
As mentioned above, basically all the research done to show if cannabinoids can cure cancer has been done in the laboratory. Therefore, it is important to be very cautious when extrapolating these results to real patients, which are much more complex than a Petri dish or a mouse. Anecdotal reports on the use of cannabis have historically been useful in providing clues about the biological processes controlled by the endocannabinoid system and the possible therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids. In the precise case of cancer there is a remarkable presence of videos and reports on the Internet arguing that cannabis can cure cancer. These anecdotal statements may be completely or partially true in some cases, but in general they remain (at least to date) weak and obscure. For example:
- It is not known if the (supposed) effect of cannabis was due to a placebo effect.
- It is not known if the tumor (supposedly) stopped growing due to natural / endogenous reasons (some spontaneous regressions are due to the antitumor defenses of the organism).
- It is not known how many patients have taken cannabis and have not obtained any therapeutic benefit, that is, what is the (supposed) efficacy of cannabis-based therapy.
- As most patients have probably gone through standard therapy before or simultaneously with cannabis use, we do not know if the (assumed) effect of cannabis was due (at least in part) to standard therapy, perhaps reinforced by cannabis, although we do not have any proof.
- We do not know what are the parameters of tumor progression that have been monitored and for how long the patient has been followed up. Many potentially beneficial effects of antineoplastic drugs (or cannabis in this case) are short-term actions, but what about long-term progression-free survival and overall survival?
- Cancer is a very heterogeneous disease, and so far no scientist has gathered a sufficient number of patients to study a certain type of cancer and can support the idea that cannabinoids are effective drugs for this type of cancer.

Conclusion: Although it is possible (and desirable, of course) that cannabis preparations have exerted some antineoplastic activity in some specific patients with cancer, the current anecdotal evidence on this subject is quite poor and, unfortunately, it is still far from supporting that cannabinoids they are effective anticancer drugs for large patient populations.

Cannabinoids inhibit the growth of cancer? (Clinical research)
The results published so far are only Phase I of a clinical trial to test whether cannabinoids are safe and can attenuate cancer in patients. Nine people with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive brain tumor, in advanced stage and those who had previously failed standard therapy received highly purified THC through a catheter directly into their brain. Under these conditions the administration of the cannabinoid was safe and could be achieved without unwanted effects.Furthermore, although statistically significant conclusions can not be drawn from a small group of patients and without a control group, the results obtained suggest that some responded, at least in part, to treatment with THC in terms of decreasing the growth rate of the patient. tumor, as could be confirmed by image analysis and biomarkers. These results are encouraging and substantially reinforce the interest in the potential use of cannabinoids in the treatment of cancer. However, we must also highlight the need to continue research to optimize the use of cannabinoids in terms of patient selection, combination with other antitumor agents and use of other routes of administration.

Conclusion: There are still many unanswered questions about the potential use of cannabinoids as anticancer drugs, and it is necessary and desirable that extensive clinical studies be conducted to determine how cannabinoids can be used, apart from their palliative effects, for the treatment of cancer patients. Here cannabis cancer research