“Cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome (CACS) is a complex metabolic syndrome, different from malnutrition and sarcopenia, which is very common in cancer patients. Treatment for CACS is based on nutritional support and CACS pathophysiology-modulating drugs. The most commonly used are megestrol acetate (MA) and corticosteroids. The efficacy of MA has been confirmed by multiple clinical trials and meta-analyses. Glucocorticoids are also effective but should only be used for short periods and in selected cases. Future strategies should include intensified research into potentially effective drugs (ω-3 fatty acids, thalidomide, cannabinoids, ghrelin, bortezomib, and COX-2 inhibitors), combined treatment and new drugs (anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibodies, melanocortin, β-2 antagonists, and androgen receptor-modulating analogues). We propose a review based on the literature on the pathophysiology of CACS, the diagnostic criteria and treatment, and future strategies.”
Tag Archives: Cannabinoids
Marijuana stops child’s severe seizures
“Saundra Young of CNN.com delved into the heated debate of medical marijuana and children, in her story about a little girl who has a rare, and severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. While the debate continues, the pro-legalization side may have won a small victory in the form of Charlotte Figi, 6, who was given her life back by marijuana…
Desperate for a treatment, Charlotte’s father Matt searched the Internet and eventually found a boy with a similar case in which medical marijuana helped his seizures. The Figi’s turned to the Stanley brothers, one of Colorado’s largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners, for help.
“These six brothers were crossbreeding a strain of marijuana low in THC, the compound in marijuana that’s psychoactive, and high in CBD, which has medicinal properties but no psychoactivity,” writes Young. But the Stanley brothers didn’t know what to do with this particular strain, as no one seemed to want to buy it. Then they met Charlotte.
The first time Charlotte tried a small dose of cannabis oil, the results were astounding:
“When she didn’t have those three, four seizures that first hour, that was the first sign,” Paige recalled. “And I thought well, ‘Let’s go another hour, this has got to be a fluke.'”
The Stanley brothers started the Realm of Caring Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides this particular strain of medical marijuana to adults and children suffering from a host of diseases. The strain used by Charlotte and 41 other patients is affectionately called Charlotte’s Web.
Charlotte’s seizures stopped for seven days after her first dose and today she is eating, and walking on her own — even riding a bike, her parents say. Charlotte gets a dose of the cannabis oil twice a day in her food and her seizures are down to 2 to 3 per month.
“I literally see Charlotte’s brain making connections that haven’t been made in years,” Matt said. “My thought now is, why were we the ones that had to go out and find this cure? This natural cure? How come a doctor didn’t know about this? How come they didn’t make me aware of this?”
Read the full article on CNN.com.”
More: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/Marijuana_stops_childs_severe_seizures.html
Dad says marijuana saved his 6-year-old son’s life – msn
“”Miraculous” stories from people who say medical marijuana helped them when all else failed keep rolling in.”
“The latest? A 6-year-old boy from Modesto, Calif., named Jayden David. Just like a young girl in Colorado, he suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. The disorder gave Jayden seizures so severe and frequent, he couldn’t walk, play or do much of anything. He often had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Doctors prescribed as many as 22 pills a day. Nothing worked. “At one point Jayden had seizures 24 hours a day lasting an hour and a half,” his father, Jason David, told local station KCRA. “I went to my doctor and said, ‘I don’t think Jayden is going to last. He can’t sleep, can’t eat. He hasn’t used the restroom. He cant do anything.'”
With no alternate options, the doctor prescribed a liquid form of cannabis called CBD, which gives less of a high. It was the first day of his entire life that Jayden went seizure-free. In the two years since, he’s taken CBD daily and now walks, plays and laughs happily. Jason credits medical marijuana with saving his son’s life — and says he’s speaking out now to help other parents with children in Jayden’s situation. “How can I not tell people, ‘Hey, save your children’s lives?'” he asks.”
http://now.msn.com/jayden-david-6-was-saved-by-medical-marijuana-dad-says
Killing bacteria with cannabis
“Pharmacists and chemists have found another use for the multipurpose cannabis as a source of antibacterial chemicals for multidrug resistant bacteria.”
“All five cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBG, CBC, and CBN) were potent against bacteria. Notably, they performed well against bacteria that were known to be multidrug resistant, like the strains of MRSA…
CBD and CBG have the most potential for consumer use because they are nonpsychotropic…”
More: http://arstechnica.com/science/2008/08/killing-bacteria-with-cannabis/
“Antibacterial cannabinoids from Cannabis sativa: a structure-activity study.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18681481
Pot is good for you? Marijuana fights the superbugs
Active Ingredient in Marijuana Kills Brain Cancer Cells – ABCNews
“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…”
The findings were published in the April issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.”: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/37948
More: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=7235037&page=1
“Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells” Full Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2673842/
Cannabidiol potentiates pharmacological effects of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol via CB(1) receptor-dependent mechanism.
“Cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, has been reported to have interactions with Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta(9)-THC)…
In the present study, we investigated whether cannabidiol modulates the pharmacological effects of Delta(9)-THC…
Cannabidiol potentiated pharmacological effects of Delta(9)-THC via CB(1) receptor-dependent mechanism.
These findings may contribute in setting the basis for interaction of cannabinoids and to find a cannabinoid mechanism in central nervous system.”
Cannabidiol enhances the inhibitory effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on human glioblastoma cell proliferation and survival
“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
Cannabis compound clue to colon cancer
“…taking substances similar to those found in cannabis might one day help to treat colon cancer.
Raymond DuBois and colleagues at the University of Texas, Houston, discovered that a key receptor for cannabinoids – compounds similar to the active ingredient of cannabis – is turned off in most types of human colon cancer cells.
Similarly, mice genetically engineered to develop colon tumours developed more of them if the receptor, called CB1, was knocked out What’s more, tumours shrank when the genetically engineered mice were injected with a cannabinoid.
One suggestion is that lack of CB1 encourages tumour growth because the receptor normally interacts with cannabinoids made by the body to prompt cells to die. This opens up a possible two-step treatment for colon cancer…”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926685.000-cannabis-compound-clue-to-colon-cancer.html
Cannabinoid cell surface receptor plays a tumor-suppressing role in human colorectal cancer
“New preclinical research shows that cannabinoid cell surface receptor CB1 plays a tumor-suppressing role in human colorectal cancer, scientists report in the Aug. 1 edition of the journal Cancer Research.
CB1 is well-established for relieving pain and nausea, elevating mood and stimulating appetite by serving as a docking station for the cannabinoid group of signaling molecules. It now may serve as a new path for cancer prevention or treatment.
“We’ve found that CB1 expression is lost in most colorectal cancers, and when that happens a cancer-promoting protein is free to inhibit cell death,” said senior author Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., provost and executive vice president of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
DuBois and collaborators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center also show that CB1 expression can be restored with an existing drug, decitabine. They found that mice prone to developing intestinal tumors that also have functioning CB1 receptors develop fewer and smaller tumors when treated with a drug that mimics a cannabinoid receptor ligand. Ligands are molecules that function by binding to specific receptors. Agonists are synthetic molecules that mimic the action of a natural molecule.
“Potential application of cannabinoids as anti-tumor drugs is an exciting prospect, because cannabinoid agonists are being evaluated now to treat the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy,” DuBois said. “Turning CB1 back on and then treating with a cannabinoid agonist could provide a new approach to colorectal cancer treatment or prevention.”
Cannabinoids are a group of ligands that serve a variety of cell-signaling roles. Some are produced by the body internally (endocannabinoids). External cannabinoids include manmade versions and those present in plants, most famously the active ingredient in marijuana (THC).”
More: http://www.news-medical.net/news/2008/08/03/40485.aspx