New study shows marijuana may fight cancer

[DolFan31]

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Dr Robert Ramer and Dr Burkhard Hinz of the University of Rostock in Germany investigated whether and by what mechanism cannabinoids inhibit tumour cell invasion.
Cannabinoids did suppress tumour cell invasion and stimulated the expression of TIMP-1, an inhibitor of a group of enzymes that are involved in tumour cell invasion.
“To our knowledge, this is the first report of TIMP-1-dependent anti-invasive effects of cannabinoids,” the two researchers said in a joint statement.
“This signalling pathway may play an important role in the anti- metastatic action of cannabinoids, whose potential therapeutic benefit in the treatment of highly invasive cancers should be addressed in clinical trials,” the authors said.

It seems Marijuana has anti-cancer effects-- yet the US Government still says it has "no medicinal value". Another benefit of Marijuana, when will we legalize it? What will it take for the FDA to at least recommend Marijuana for fighting cancer?

[Celtkin]

I'd have to read the manuscript but I'll bet that they didn't have cancer patients smoke marijuana to observe the effects on tumor cells. My guess is that cannabinoids were used to treat cells in culture.

[Celtkin]

I'd have to read the manuscript but I'll bet that they didn't have cancer patients smoke marijuana to observe the effects on tumor cells. My guess is that cannabinoids were used to treat cells in culture.

Yep:

METHODS: Matrigel-coated and uncoated Boyden chambers were used to quantify invasiveness and migration, respectively, of human cervical cancer (HeLa) cells that had been treated with cannabinoids (the stable anandamide analog R(+)-methanandamide [MA] and the phytocannabinoid delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]) in the presence or absence of antagonists of the CB1 or CB2 cannabinoid receptors or of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) or inhibitors of p38 or p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways.

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[DolFan31]

Yea, and there are ways to ingest MJ without smoking it. That is the problem with opponents of any kind of MJ legalization for either health or recreational is that they fail to understand that you dont need to smoke MJ for the desired effects.

[DolFan31]

Also, they did another study on this over the summer using rats who had enlarged tumors. When they injected the rats with THC, the tumors shrank.


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another article from HealthDay).

[Celtkin]

Yea, and there are ways to ingest MJ without smoking it. That is the problem with opponents of any kind of MJ legalization for either health or recreational is that they fail to understand that you dont need to smoke MJ for the desired effects.

Just because a drug has medicinal uses as does marijuana, it doesn't follow that it should be legalized for recreational use. For example, heroin is a strong analgesic but it remains illegal for non-medical uses.

I believe that marijuana will be legalized for medicinal uses in the near future but legalization for recreational use is probably not going to happen any time soon.

[Dolphan7]

Just because a drug has medicinal uses as does marijuana, it doesn't follow that it should be legalized for recreational use. For example, heroin is a strong analgesic but it remains illegal for non-medical uses.

I believe that marijuana will be legalized for medicinal uses in the near future but legalization for recreational use is probably not going to happen any time soon.

For all you legalization proponents - theres still Booze!

[SkapePhin]

For all you legalization proponents - theres still Booze!

booze and weed function in completely different ways.. Marijuana, in essence, is nothing more than an anti-anxiety medication.. Booze is much more debilitating and dangerous.

[Dolphan7]

booze and weed function in completely different ways.. Marijuana, in essence, is nothing more than an anti-anxiety medication.. Booze is much more debilitating and dangerous.

Not to be argumentative but I guess it depends on the type of pot you are smoking. There are some blends that will knock you on your keester, and debilitates just as effectively as booze. Now I could be speaking from experience, but I don't know I can't remember.
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[Eshlemon]

THC research is really still just in it's infancy of research for future medicinal benefits:


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Marijuana Component Opens The Door For Virus That Causes Kaposi's Sarcoma

ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2007) — The major active component of marijuana could enhance the ability of the virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma to infect cells and multiply, according to a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School. According to the researchers, low doses of Ä-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), equivalent to that in the bloodstream of an average marijuana smoker, could be enough to facilitate infection of skin cells and could even coax these cells into malignancy.

While most people are not at risk from Kaposi's sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV), researchers say those with lowered immune systems, such as AIDS patients or transplant recipients, are more susceptible to developing the sarcoma as a result of infection. Their findings, reported in the August 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, offer cautionary evidence that those with weakened immune systems should speak with their doctors before using marijuana medicinally or recreationally.

"These findings raise some serious questions about using marijuana, in any form, if you have a weakened immune system," said lead study author Jerome E. Groopman, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "While THC is best known as the main psychotropic part of marijuana, an analog of THC is the active ingredient of marinol, a drug frequently given to AIDS patients, among others, for increasing appetite and limiting chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting."

While previous studies indicated that marijuana smoking was associated with Kaposi's sarcoma, this is the first to demonstrate that THC itself can assist the virus in entering endothelial cells, which comprise skin and related tissue.

"Here we see both infection and malignancy going on in the presence of THC, offering some serious concerns about the safety of THC among those at risk," Dr. Groopman said. "Of course, we still do not know the exact molecular events that are occurring here, but these results are just the first part of our ongoing research."

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health