“Marijuana, taken in pill or spray form, helps ease certain multiple sclerosis symptoms, while about a dozen other alternative remedies offer no benefit, according to a report by U.S. neurologists.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/marijuana-benefits-ms-patients-as-other-remedies-fail.html
“An expert panel organized by the American Academy of Neurology called oral cannabis extract the only complementary and alternative medicine unequivocally effective for helping patients with multiple sclerosis, specifically easing their pain and symptoms of spasticity, medicine possibly for as long as 1 year of treatment.”
“Researchers said medical marijuana seems to be the only “alternative therapy” showing promise for helping those with multiple sclerosis.
Officials at Oregon Health and Science University said research shows therapies like massage and acupuncture aren’t as effective as medical marijuana.”
“The American Academy of Neurology has become one of the first medical organizations in the U.S. to endorse the use of medical marijuana.
In new guidelines published in the journal Neurology, the Academy said oral cannabis, medical marijuana pills and medical marijuana spray may help ease symptoms of muscle spasticity and frequent urination caused by multiple sclerosis (MS).”
“Controlled trial shows improved spasticity, reduced pain after smoking medical marijuana
A clinical study of 30 adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has shown that smoked cannabis may be an effective treatment for spasticity – a common and disabling symptom of this neurological disease.”
“Medical marijuana pills and sprays might ease the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, but most other alternative therapies do little to lessen the pain and muscle rigidity that often accompanies the disease, according to new guidelines.
To reach that conclusion, an expert panel from the American Academy of Neurology reviewed more than 40 years of research on alternative medicine treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS)…
The guidelines are published in the March 25 issue of the journal Neurology.”
“Because THC-like compounds are used to inhibit nausea and induce appetite in cancer patients, and anandamide appears to be an endogenous orexigenic mediator, the finding of possible antitumor effect for these substances might have a tremendous potential for therapeutic intervention in preventing the progression of cancer and, at the same time, in alleviating its symptoms.
Because multiple pathways are important for the proliferation of tumor cells and because combination therapies are often more effective than single-drug administration, cannabimimetic substances may complement other anticancer agents…”
http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2001/12/02/fj.01-0320fje.long
“Targeting the RAS oncogene.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3804031/
“Both natural and synthetic cannabinoids have been shown to suppress the growth of tumor cells in culture and in animal models by affecting key signaling pathways including angiogenesis, a pivotal step in tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis.
In our search for cannabinoid-like anticancer agents devoid of psychoactive side effects, we synthesized and evaluated the anti-angiogenic effects of a novel series of hexahydrocannabinol analogs.
…two analogs LYR-7 [(9S)-3,6,6,9-tetramethyl-6a,7,8,9,10,10a-hexahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol] and LYR-8 [(1-((9S)-1-hydroxy-6,6,9-trimethyl-6a,7,8,9,10,10a-hexahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromen-2-yl)ethanone)]…
…these results suggest that novel synthetic hexahydrocannabinol analogs, LYR-7 and LYR-8, inhibit tumor growth by targeting VEGF-mediated angiogenesis signaling in endothelial cells and suppressing VEGF production and cancer cell growth.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20950604
“Cannabinoid compounds have been shown to exert anti-tumor effects by affecting angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis.
In the present study, we examined the action mechanism by which a novel hexahydrocannabinol analog, exerts anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor activity in human cancer xenografts.
These results indicate a novel function of cannabinoid-like compound as an anti-tumor agent.”
“The metabolic pathway leading to carboxylic acid derivatives of cannabinoids was discovered more than twenty years ago. While these compounds showed no cannabimimetic activity, subsequent work documented several biological responses both in vitro and in vivo for the THC acids.
These include inhibition of eicosanoid synthesis, antiedema effects, antagonism to PAF actions, inhibition of leucocyte adhesion and anti nociception.
In this report we present data further characterizing the analgesic properties of the title substance which is a potent synthetic member of this group. CT3 was effective in the mouse…”