Another Medical Use for the Marijuana Plant

According to a press release on Newswise.com, Sean D. McAllister, Ph.D. at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, is the lead author of a study that is published in the November journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. The Study is called Inhibition of Breast Cancer Aggressiveness by Cannabidiol and was presented at the California Breast Cancer Research Symposium in September 2007.

Recent research has shown that a gene called the Id-1 gene is key in the spread of cancer from one site, such as the breast, to another location in the body. When the activity of the gene is reduced, studies have shown that the spread of the cancer becomes less invasive. This has proven true both in studies of cultures and studies done in mice. The method used in these studies was one called gene antisense therapy, but it is not one that is currently clinically possible for metastatic breast cancer.

McAllister and his team were conducting studies to find a non-toxic drug that could reduce the activity of the Id-1 gene when they found that a substance called Cannabidiol was effective. This is a non-psychotropic part of the plant Cannabis sativa, which is also known as Marijuana. Cannabis is also a substance that comes for marijuana and that has been used in certain medical therapies. However, since it has a psychoactive effect, there are always considerations of law to be taken into account. Cannabidiol would not be regulated by law and has been found to be non-toxic while at the same time reducing the growth and migration of the aggressive cancer cells.

More research is needed to find out if Cannabidiol is as effective in inhibiting the spread of breast cancer cells in the body as it was in the cultures and animal studies, however, it has already been studied in human brain cancers in the body and has been showed to be effective.

According to Dr. McAllister medical science does not offer a wide range of treatment options for the more aggressive cancers. He states, " 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".

An important observation from the researchers is that this study does not mean that those with breast cancer (or other cancers) should begin smoking marijuana. The amount of Cannabidiol needed to achieve the beneficial results that the researchers are hoping for could not be obtained by smoking marijuana.

Dr. Pierre-Yves Desprez is also a cancer researcher at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute and the senior author of the study. The press release quotes Dr. Desprez , "...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".

Sources Used:
Newswise.com #535416 Marijuana Compound Shows Promise in Fighting Breast Cancer
California Breast Cancer Research.org- Inhibition of Breast Cancer Aggressiveness by Cannabidiol
Investigator: Sean McAllister PhD