Is CBD Good For Treating Cancer?

This article will discuss the efficacy of CBD and cancer treatment. We do not wish to diminish any of the personal testimony of those who claim CBD cured their cancer by not discussing them in this article. We simply want to take this opportunity to discuss the preclinical evidence as shown by medical articles as of the date of this article.

To properly address this topic, we first must delve into what CBD is and how it works. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive compound found in Hemp and Marijuana plants utilized for its different medical benefits. Hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the cannabis sativa plant.

Hemp is traditionally cultivated for seeds, oil, and fiber, while Marijuana is cultivated for its high content of THC, utilized for its psychoactive properties. Individuals looking for alternative means of relief, traditionally look to CBD to help treat inflammation, pain, anxiety, psychosis, seizures, spasms, and nausea.

How Does CBD Work In The Body?

CBD binds to FABP (fatty acid binding protein) allowing various lipid molecules into the interior of the cell. When this process has taken place, CBD then goes to work modulating receptors on the surface and inside the nucleus of the cell. CBD is seen to enhance endocannabinoid tendency, a neuroprotective effect against seizures.

CBD also increases adenosine levels, especially A1A and A2A adenosine receptors, which are mainly responsible for cardiovascular function. Effecting A1A and A2A receptors help regulate myocardial oxygen consumption and coronary blood flow. This research infers that CBD benefits the body by, increasing blood flow and creating broad anti-inflammatory effects.

CBD can provide benefits by interacting with our brains endocannabinoid system, which is our vital molecular system for helping maintain healthy homeostasis. This communication between cannabinoids and our endocannabinoid system helps our body remedy any deficiencies or fix potential issues in our body’s ability to maintain a healthy balance.

Because our endocannabinoid system is responsible for such a wide range of responsibilities is why CBD has the potential to remedy such a wide range of ailments.

CBD Oil & Cancer

In order for CBD to be considered a viable option in the fight against cancer, it really needs to provide two keys features:

1. We need to see if CBD can consistently provide antitumor agents, which means it kills cancer cells.
2. The other is that it’s safe for humans to take.

This is especially important, as the predominant agent in fighting cancer today isn’t particularly safe for humans to take. Let me explain, currently, chemotherapy is very good at indiscriminately killing cells in your body. There have been massive improvements to this therapy over the years, but still taking chemotherapy isn’t considered safe for humans.

It kills the much needed healthy cells in your body and completely wipes your immune system. What is considered the Holy Grail in cancer research, is finding a way which kills cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

It’s also important to understand that in order for CBD to be considered a cure for cancer, which today it certainly is not considered so, a patient taking CBD for treatment of cancer would only be considered cured of their cancer if he or she has no signs of cancer after five years after completing their treatment.

This is the traditional timeline used in order for doctors to feel confident enough to declare that their patient has officially been cured of this horrific disease.

Over the last forty years or so, there has been growing anecdotal evidence of patients, with different forms of cancer, claiming that they are cancer free due to their supplementation of CBD or other cannabis oils.

Which of course is exciting, but it is important to understand MOST, not all, of the buzz you hear surrounding CBD and a cure for cancer has mostly been done by individuals or patients and not conducted by doctors in laboratories conducting peer-reviewed studies on human patients.

Most, not all, of these preliminary studies which do show promising results, have been conducted on mice, not human studies. It is important that we say this, we are not here to give anyone false hope or say this product will cure everything for everyone.

That is simply not the case. However, recently there are some very exciting preclinical studies which have been conducted and it’s important that we pay attention as these studies become public so we can properly understand how CBD can fight different forms of cancer. Ok, let’s Go!

Preclinical CBD Cancer Studies Suggest

Today, CBD and other cannabis-related products, help aid cancer patients with the unfortunate side effects of chemotherapy namely: nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, pain, depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

Helping offset these horrendous side effects can greatly improve a patient’s mood, caloric and nutrition intake, and assist in maintaining a higher quality of life while going through treatment. In recent years, promising research on mice and in test tubes has showcased that CBD has the ability, on a cellular level, to create an anti-cancer effect in the body.

By activating PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors), which are located on the surface of the cell’s nucleus, creates an anti-proliferative effect on cancer cells. Activating PPARs has also been seen to have the ability to reduce the size of tumors. In the test tube, research has seen cannabinoids kill cancerous cells while leaving healthy cell alone.

Since CBD, being both an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory, it could be possible for cancer cells to be killed off before they even develop. Research has yet to be fully conducted on the preventative effects. But we can refer to test tube research that showed that this might be possible.

Moreover, cannabinoids have proven to promote apoptosis, the programmed death of tumor cells, while stopping angiogenesis, blood vessel production to the tumor. Studies have also seen CBD’s potential benefits with cancer treatment, as cannabinoids are known to interfere with tumor neovascularization, cancer cell migration, adhesion, invasion, and metastasization.

CBD Oil For Breast & Other Types Of Cancers

In 2006, a study was conducted on the antitumor activity of plant cannabinoids with emphasis on the effect of cannabidiol on human breast carcinoma. Utilizing cannabis extracts which were enriched with over 70% cannabidiol.

The study was conducted to find whether there is a statistical advantage in using cannabis extracts to fight Breast Cancer Cells. The study also focused on whether there was a statistical difference when using CBD or THC and other cannabinoids.

The authors of these studies stated that they found: “CBD induced concentration-dependent cell death of both oestrogen receptor-positive and oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cells with a mechanism independent of CB₁, CB₂, and TRPV1 receptor activation.”These findings suggest that CBD could be potentially considered as an alternative agent for fighting breast cancer.

What cannabinoids seemed to be doing was leaving the healthy cells alone and attacking the tumor cells. Which could be a massive advantage over the traditional chemotherapy treatment options.

What makes this research so remarkable is the fact that, while utilizing concentrations of CBD, the CBD seemed to have little effect on non-tumorigenic cells.

Results clearly indicate that of the five natural compounds tested, CBD is the most potent agent at inhibiting cancer cell growth in human breast cells. Both cannabidiol and the cannabidiol-rich extract inhibited the growth of xenograft tumors and reduced lung metastases.

According to their results, CBD has the ability to induce apoptosis by activating cannabinoid CB(2) receptors, vanilloid transient receptors, and reactive oxygen species. In conclusion, this work brings forth strong evidence that CBD has the ability to balance autophagy and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cell death.

CBD Endocrine tumors

Neuroendocrine tumors or (NETs) are neoplasms that arise from cells of the endocrine (hormonal) and nervous systems. The most common type of endocrine cancer would be Thyroid cancer, with over 56,000 new cases in the United States each year.

Much like what has been seen in the treatment of other types of cancer cells, CBD has been shown to exert anti-proliferative effects in mice. CBD, like its effect on breast cancer cells,

was seen to induce apoptosis (cancer cell suicide) while leaving healthy cells alone. These preliminary studies have shown much promise in CBD’s ability to reduce the growth of cancerous tumors in mice and have shown to cause cancer cell death in early in vitro studies.

They’re some esteemed doctors who have dedicated their professional careers on the study of cannabinoids and their beneficial effects on cancer cells. In our research, they’re some very promising cases utilizing CBD as a possible treatment for cancer.

Most of the promising work has been done in vitro, in test tubes, or in mice and other rodent studies. They’re some small human studies in cancer patients, which have shown promising data similarities to the results seen in rodent and in vitro studies.

To the point that there’s an overwhelming call for CBD and THC to be seen as a legitimate possibility for the treatment of several different types of cancers.

Dr. Christina Sanche’s Research – What It Says For CBD Oil.

Dr. Christina Sanchez is a molecular biologist from Madrid, Spain. Throughout her career, she has been particularly interested in how cannabinoids like CBD and THC can be used in the treatment of cancer. Throughout her research, she aims to understand and exploit cannabinoids as potential antitumoral agents.

Her research in mice explains what makes cannabinoids so powerful is the way in which they induce apoptosis, in her words how cancer cells commit suicide. In her, research CBD is seen to cause inactivation of the protein AKT, which is the protein which allows cancer cells to proliferate and spread throughout the body when cells have active AKT cancer is able to spread throughout the body.

In her preclinical studies, Dr. Sanchez utilizes both THC and CBD specifically for the treatment of Breast Cancer. As we know THC targets CB1 receptors, which causes the psychoactive effects and CBD targets CB2 receptors.

Her research suggests that in breast cancer, THC and CBD have exactly the same effects on breast cancer cells. In which they stop cancer cell growth and also inhibit AKT protein, which stops cancer cell proliferation, all the while leaving healthy cell growth alone. Hundreds of preclinical trials suggest that CBD is safe in human patients.

In 2006, only using six terminally ill cancer patients, Dr. Sanchez studied CBD and its effects on tumor growth and proliferation. All the patients enrolled in the study had already undergone surgery to remove cancer tumors, had gone through the standard chemotherapy treatments, and had suffered recurrent cancer activity.

What they observed was, THC reduced tumor growth, prolonged life in some of the patients, increased apoptosis, and reduced cancer proliferation as effective as the standard chemotherapy treatments.

What this small study group suggests is that the results shown by Dr. Sanchez and her small sample group can draw parallels to her preclinical in vitro and animal results. The resulting conclusions from Dr. Sanchez’s work are incredibly important and will pave the way for more human studies in the future.

Cannabis Explained By Dr. Raphael Mechoulam

Is an organic chemist and professor who is seen as one of the vanguards in the study of medicinal cannabis. Dr. Mechoulam is also a professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. He is well known for his research and accomplishments with the total synthesis of the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), Cannabidiol (CBD), and Cabbabigerol (CBG).

He has stated on numerous occasions that, “…cannabis doesn’t cure a disease but it treats symptoms. It can help certain symptoms but does not cure a disease.”It is important to understand that not many drugs on the market today actually cure the disease the drug is designed for.

In most cases, drugs are designed to treat the symptoms. For a good reference, the antibiotic is an example of a drug that actually cures a disease. Dr. Mechoulam has explained in detail that when testing with animals, there has definitely seen an effect when treating cancer with cannabis.

In order for the medical and scientific community to say cannabis and other cannabinoids like cannabidiol are effective in the cure for cancer, we need to see an increase in human trials. As of the date of this article, there have been numerous studies conducted with mice and in vitro, but there has yet to be a strong human case study on the efficacy of cannabis being a viable treatment for different forms of cancer. Dr. Mechoulam explains,

“He regrets this, as we have seen some promising research in animals which have been treated successfully.” The momentum is increasing and we will definitely see these much needed human case studies come out in the near future.

Efficacy Of CBD For Cancer

In conclusion, cannabinoid CBD exhibits pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects on a variety of different cancers. In some preliminary studies in vitro and in mice, CBD can also be seen to exert anti-migratory, anti-metastatic and possibly preventative effects on cancer tumor formation.

In in vitro studies, CBD seems to only target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. In mice and rodent tests, CBD was seen to reduce tumor growth and, and metastasization.

These preliminary studies set a strong foundation as to the efficacy of CBD as a potential treatment for cancer. The actual level of effectiveness in humans will be properly measured in the coming years. Though the work of Dr. Sanchez, on a handful of terminally ill patients, did show some statistical correlation between CBD’s ability to treat cancer cells in vitro and its ability to slow and possibly reduce cancer growth in humans.

What we can understand from this early work is that CBD is a nontoxic compound which acts very naturally and works with your body through the endocannabinoid system. Studies have shown that ingesting 700mg a day for 6 weeks did not show any toxic effects in humans.

As we have discussed earlier, the standard forms of cancer treatment today are considered very toxic, and we can say with strong certainty that CBD and Cannabis will help alleviate much of the horrific effects patients go through during chemotherapy. Finally, these early studies represent CBD’s exciting potential and have garnered the interests of the medical community.

To the point that CBD can be seen as a possible supplemental agent to the current chemotherapy treatments. Which in theory, could allow chemotherapy dose reduction, greatly reducing the harmful side effects of chemotherapy while maintaining cancer treatment efficacy.

Thanks to the work conducted by doctors like Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Mechoulam, cannabinoids are now being seen as legitimate medicinal agents, worthy of human trials and possible therapy for cancer.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3579246/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12432948

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16224028

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11479216

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16728591

http://herb.co/2016/10/18/dr-christina-sanchez-cannabis-cancer/

https://www.projectcbd.org/about/cannabis-culture-history/scientist-life-and-work-raphael-mechoulam

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