Cannabis Compound Can Potentially Fight Metastatic Breast Cancer

Filed in archive Cancer , Investigational , Plants & Herbs , Studies , Treatment , Women's Health on November 25, 2007

According to scientists from at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, CBD (a compound from Cannabis Sativa) may prove to be effective at helping stop the spread of breast cancer cells throughout the body.




According to Sean D. McAllister, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at CPMCRI and the lead author of the study:

"Right now we have a limited range of options in treating aggressive forms of cancer.

Those treatments, such as chemotherapy, can be effective but they can also be extremely toxic and difficult for patients.

This compound offers the hope of a non-toxic therapy that could achieve the same results without any of the painful side effects."

CBD was found to inhibit the activity of a gene called Id-1. The gene that is believed to be responsible for the aggressive spread of cancer cells throughout the body, away from the original tumor site.

If that is the case, the CBD could be the first non-toxic agent to show promise in treating metastatic forms of breast cancer.

According to Pierre-Yves Desprez, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at CPMCRI and the senior author of the study:

"We know that Id-1 is a key regulator of the spread of breast cancer. We also know that Id-1 has also been found at higher levels in other forms of cancer.

So what is exciting about this study is that if CBD can inhibit Id-1 in breast cancer cells, then it may also prove effective at stopping the spread of cancer cells in other forms of the disease, such as colon and brain or prostate cancer."

But this doesn't mean that breast cancer patients should smoke marijuana, warned the researchers:

They say it is highly unlikely that effective concentrations of CBD could be reached by smoking cannabis. And while CBD is not psychoactive it is still considered a Schedule 1 drug.

Findings appear in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

Source: California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute (a pdf file)