Tag Archives: treatment

Marijuana May Stall Brain Tumor Growth – WebMD

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“Active Ingredient in Marijuana Inhibits Cancer Growth in Early Study.
 
The active ingredient in marijuana may help fight brain tumors, a new study suggests.
 

Researchers say the cannabinoids found in marijuana may aid in brain tumor treatment by targeting the genes needed for the tumors to sprout blood vessels and grow.

Their study showed that cannabinoids inhibited genes needed for the production of vascular growth factor (VEGF) in laboratory mice with glioma brain tumors and two patients with late-stage glioblastoma multiforme, a form of brain cancer.

VEGF is a protein that stimulates blood vessels to grow. Tumors need an abundant blood supply because they generally grow rapidly. So when VEGF is blocked, tumors starve from lack of blood supply and nutrients.

Blocking of VEGF constitutes one of the most promising tumor-fighting approaches currently available, says researcher Manuel Guzman, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, at the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, in a news release.”

More:http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20040815/marijuana-stall-brain-tumor-growth 

“Cannabinoids Inhibit the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Pathway in Gliomas”:  http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/64/16/5617.long

 

Unhappy Couple
 

Cannabinoid receptors as a target for therapy of ovarian cancer

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“Ovarian cancer represents one of the leading cause of cancer-relateddeaths for women and is the most common gynecologic malignancy.In spite of relative low morbidity, ovarian cancer has a highfatality ratio, with overall 5-year survival of less than 30%.At present, there are inadequate treatment options for the managementof advanced ovarian cancer, and therefore development of novelapproaches for treatment of this disease are needed.

Cannabinoids,the active components of Cannabis sativa linnaeous and their derivatives have received considerable attention in recent yearsdue to their diverse pharmacological activities such as cell growth inhibition and tumor regression. To date, two differentcannabinoid receptors have been characterized and cloned frommammalian tissues: the “central” CB1 receptor and the “peripheral”CB2 receptor…

These results support a new therapeutic approach for the treatmentof ovarian cancer. It is also conceivable that with available cannabinoids as lead compounds, non-habit forming agents that have higher biological effects could be developed.”

http://www.aacrmeetingabstracts.org/cgi/content/abstract/2006/1/1084

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/66/8_Supplement/1084.1

Neuroprotection and reduction of glial reaction by cannabidiol treatment after sciatic nerve transection in neonatal rats.

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“The clinical use of neurotrophic factors is difficult due to side effects and elevated costs, but other molecules might be effective and more easily obtained. Among them, some are derived from Cannabis sativa.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is the major non-psychotropic component found on the surface of such plant leaves.

The present study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective potential of CBD…

The present results show that CBD possesses neuroprotective characteristics that may, in turn, be promising for future clinical use.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23981015

Cannabinoids may be a target for new strategies in cancer treatment

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“Cannabis-like substances that are produced by the body have both therapeutic and harmful properties, besides their well-known intoxicating effects, and the body’s cannabinoid system may be a target for new strategies in cancer treatment…

Cannabinoids have moreover been shown to affect the fate of cells. Cannabinoids protect some brain cells, whereas cells in certain types of brain tumors, such as glioma, are stimulated to commit controlled cell suicide (apoptosis)…

In summary, the findings of Sofia Gustafsson’s studies show that cannabinoids can be toxic for cancer cells… These findings are important for our knowledge both of the potential of the cannabinoid system as a target system for new strategies in cancer treatment…”

More: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120229/Cannabinoids-may-be-a-target-for-new-strategies-in-cancer-treatment.aspx

HAL BROWN: Medical marijuana could have eased wife’s pain

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“My only direct personal experience with the effectiveness of medical marijuana was when my wife was dying of cancer and was on chemo. Without going deeply into details, her life became a living hell as death became imminent.
 

She was very resistant when a friend tried to persuade her to try some marijuana, which he said he could get from his son (a responsible recreational user with a good job, wife, and family). When her Dana Farber oncologist didn’t tell her NOT to try it (being reluctant to tell her TO try it, let’s call it a wink and an affirmative nod), she agreed.

She did so once, and the results were amazing. She had six full hours where her debilitating symptoms were significantly relieved. The severe persistent nausea which plagued her, despite being on three anti-nausea drugs, disappeared. Even so, she refused to try it again. She toughed it out until the end, which was a brutal four days at Brigham and Women’s, as even the strongest pain medication had no effect.

I have little doubt that eventually the chemicals which can relieve diseases and symptoms will be synthesized, and be approved as prescription medications.

Until then, it seems to me that the good of making medical marijuana available for those who get a doctor’s prescription outweighs the bad.

I think almost everyone who has had a loved one suffer with an illness which makes life unbearable, and for which marijuana would help, would agree with me. We need to deal with drug abuse aggressively in Middleboro; but making sick people pay the price for drug abusers by withholding treatment for people truly in need seems cruel and insensitive.

I urge anyone who disagrees with me to read this article from the American Cancer Society website.”

http://www.enterprisenews.com/newsnow/x1343094540/COMMENTARY-Medical-marijuana-could-have-eased-wife-s-pain

Around-the-clock oral THC effects on sleep in male chronic daily cannabis smokers.

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“Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) promotes sleep in animals; clinical use of THC is associated with somnolence (sleepiness)…

These findings suggest that tolerance to the somnolent effects of THC may have occurred…

Somnolence from oral THC may dissipate with chronic, high-dose use.

This has implications for patients who may take chronic oral THC for medicinal purposes, including cannabis dependence treatment.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23952899

Clinical evaluation and optimal management of cancer cachexia.

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“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.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23953794

The endocannabinoid system as a possible target to treat both the cognitive and emotional features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder of significant prevalence and morbidity, whose pathogenesis relies on paradoxical changes of emotional memory processing. An ideal treatment would be a drug able to block the pathological over-consolidation and continuous retrieval of the traumatic event, while enhancing its extinction and reducing the anxiety symptoms. While the latter benefit from antidepressant medications, no drug is available to control the cognitive symptomatology. Endocannabinoids regulate affective states and participate in memory consolidation, retrieval, and extinction. Clinical findings showing a relationship between Cannabis use and PTSD, as well as changes in endocannabinoid activity in PTSD patients, further suggest the existence of a link between endocannabinoids and maladaptive brain changes after trauma exposure. Along these lines, we suggest that endocannabinoid degradation inhibitors may be an ideal therapeutic approach to simultaneously treat the emotional and cognitive features of PTSD, avoiding the unwanted psychotropic effects of compounds directly binding cannabinoid receptors.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23950739

The medical necessity for medicinal cannabis: prospective, observational study evaluating the treatment in cancer patients on supportive or palliative care.

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“Cancer patients using cannabis report better influence from the plant extract than from synthetic products… We followed patients with a medicinal cannabis license to evaluate the advantages and side effects of using cannabis by cancer patients…

 All cancer or anticancer treatment-related symptoms showed significant improvement.

 No significant side effects except for memory lessening in patients with prolonged cannabis use were noted.

Conclusion. The positive effects of cannabis on various cancer-related symptoms are tempered by reliance on self-reporting for many of the variables. Although studies with a control group are missing, the improvement in symptoms should push the use of cannabis in palliative treatment of oncology patients.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23956774

Full Text: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/510392/

Marijuana stops child’s severe seizures

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“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