Dunedin, New Zealand: Cannabinoids inhibit cancer cell survival and “could be useful in the treatment of cancer,” according to a forthcoming review to be published in the journal Cancer Letters.
Investigators at the University of Otago (New Zealand), Department of Pharmacology, reported, “[C]annabinoids have been shown to have anti-proliferative, anti-mestatic, anti-angiogenic and pro-apoptotic effects in various cancer types (lung, glioma, thyroid, lymphoma, skin, pancreas, uterus, breast, and prostate carcinoma) using both in vitro and in vivo models.
Previous trials have reported that cannabinoids can selectively target and kill malignant cancer cells while ignoring healthy cells, as well as reduce the growth of new blood vessels to cancerous tumors.
A 2008 review by investigators at the University of Wisconsin concluded, “[T]here is overwhelming evidence to suggest that cannabinoids can be explored as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer.”
Commenting on the forthcoming review, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “Cannabinoids may one day represent a new class of non-toxic anti-cancer drugs that can halt the spread of the disease without inducing the painful and life-threatening side effects of chemotherapy. It is shameful that politics and US government propaganda have halted the research and exploration of these compounds as anti-cancer agents.”
For more information, please please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “Cannabinoids in the treatment of cancer,” will appear in the journal Cancer Research. Additional information on the use of cannabinoids as potential anti-cancer agents is available online at: http://www.norml.org//index.cfm?Group_ID=7002.