"It’s aggressive and moving fast, and we’re all terrified. I have started looking for wholistic therapies, hyperthermia, with success for people w/ Stage VI brain tumor (most likely a glioblastoma). Should we be using cannabis? "
I’m very sorry to hear about your dad’s tumor and I can understand why you are terrified. Let me try to give you a little information about cannabis and cancer.
Cancer is a disease caused by abnormal cells dividing uncontrollably and invading healthy cells.
There are hundreds of different types of cancer. Cancer is not necessarily one disease and treatment methods between different cancer types often vary. However, there are a few aspects where cannabis can commonly treat most cancer symptoms.
There have been several case studies and anecdotal evidence that cannabis helps minimize or eliminate tumors in cancer patients.
Preclinical studies of cannabinoids have shown the following:
• Studies in mice and rats show that cannabinoids may inhibit tumor growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumors to grow.
• Laboratory and animal studies have shown that cannabinoids may kill cancer cells while managing to protect normal cells.
• A study in mice showed that cannabis may have potential to reduce the risk of colon cancer and/or treat the disease by protecting against inflammation in the colon.
• A lab study of delta-9-THC in liver cancer cells showed that it damaged/killed the cancer cells. It was also shown to have anti-tumor effects by acting on molecules also found in lung cancer and breast cancer cells.
In 2009, researchers at Complutense University in Spain found that THC induced the death of brain cancer cells in a process known as autophagy. Researchers found that administering THC to mice with human tumors initiated autophagy and caused the growth of the tumors to decrease. Two human patients with highly aggressive brain tumors who received intracranial administration of THC also showed similar signs of autophagy. The team behind the study, Complutense University and the University of Anglia in the UK, have discovered previously unknown signaling platforms that allow THC to shrink tumors. While these facts are interesting, we seem to be a long way off fully understanding these antitumor effects.
Many people believe CBD rich oils to be cancer fighting but in fact THC is the component of cannabis that has been studied for its anti-tumor effects. That being said, CBD may also have anti-tumor properties and certainly it mitigates some of the undesirable effects of THC, possibly allowing one to then use higher doses of THC.
I hope this information is helpful for you and your family.
drbluto