Cannabis extract shrinks brain tumours

[Guest guest]

As most you know, I personally do not advocate the

recreational use of any mind altering chemicals. F.

 

 

 

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996283 & lpos=home1

 

The World's No.1 Science & Technology News Service

 

 

Cannabis extract shrinks brain tumours

 

05:00 15 August 04

 

NewScientist.com news service

 

 

Cannabis extracts may shrink brain tumours and other

cancers by blocking the growth of the blood vessels

which feed them, suggests a new study.

 

An active component of the street drug has previously

been shown to improve brain tumours in rats. But now

Manuel Guzmán at Complutense University, Spain, and

colleagues have demonstrated how the cannabis extracts

block a key chemical needed for tumours to sprout

blood vessels – a process called angiogenesis.

 

And for the first time, the team has shown the

cannabinoids impede this chemical in people with the

most aggressive form of brain cancer - glioblastoma

multiforme.

 

Cristina Blázquez at Complutense University, and one

of the team, stresses the results are preliminary.

“But it’s a good point to start and continue,” she

told New Scientist.

 

“The cannabinoid inhibits the angiogenesis response -

if a tumour doesn’t do angiogenesis, it doesn’t grow,”

she explains. “So if you can improve angiogenesis on

one side and kill the tumour cells on the other side,

you can try for a therapy for cancer.”

 

" This research provides an important new lead compound

for anti-cancer drugs targeting cancer's blood

supply,” says Richard Sullivan, head of clinical

programmes, at Cancer Research UK.

 

 

Fat molecule

 

The team tested the effects of

delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in 30 mice. They found

the marijuana extract inhibited the expression of

several genes related to the production of a chemical

called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

 

VEGF is critical for angiogenesis, which allows

tumours to grow a network of blood vessels to supply

their growth. The cannabinoid significantly lowered

the activity of VEGF in the mice and two human brain

cancer patients, the study showed.

 

The drug did this by increasing the activity of a fat

molecule called ceramide, suggests the study, as

adding a ceramide inhibitor stifled the ability of the

cannabinoid to block VEGF.

 

 

Small and pallid

 

“We saw that the tumours [in mice] were smaller and a

bit pallid,” adds Blázquez. The paleness of the cancer

reflected its lack of blood supply as a result of the

treatment. In the human patients, she says: " It seems

that it works, but it's very early. "

 

Sullivan points out: “Although this work is at an

early stage of development other research has already

demonstrated that VEGF is an important drug target for

a range of cancers.”

 

He emphasises the need for further work on cannabinoid

combinations. “Cannabinoids would need to generate

very strong data in the future as there are already a

number of VEGF inhibitors in clinical development,” he

says.

 

The two patients in the ongoing study are among 14 in

a clinical trial of the drug. The patients are given

one cycle of treatment, lasting a few days, and their

survival and general health are being studied.

 

Journal reference: Cancer Research (vol 64, p 5617)

 

 

Shaoni Bhattacharya