A new study will forever change cancerous tumor growth treatment. I’ll give you a hint. It involves medical cannabis as the treatment! First though, let’s look at what causes cancerous tumors to develop and spread throughout the body.
Cancerous tumor growth occurs through the process of cells growing and dividing to create more cells. When this happens, it eventually forms a tumor that can contain up to millions of cancer cells. With the increase in growth of a tumor, it will begin to move away from blood vessels in the area in which it is growing. This will cause it to gain fewer nutrients and oxygen. While these cells and tumors cannot live without nutrients and oxygen, they do have the ability to transmit angiogenic factors that result in angiogenesis which is the encouragement of growth for new blood vessels.
When a cancerous tumor is able to stimulate the growth of additional blood vessels, it can begin to increase in size. It will start to grow and take up more space in the body putting pressure on surrounding organs and structures. Through a process called local invasion, it can begin to spread to other tissues and organs in the body. The traditional method for killing tumor growth for several decades has been chemotherapy and radiation-based options.
A New Harvard Study Suggests that Cannabis Could be the Future of Cancer Treatment
A new Harvard University study on lung cancer tumors could forever change this. Researchers at the university performed a study in the lab on mice. The study concluded that cannabinoids found in cannabis can cut lung cancer tumor growth in half. This didn’t take months either, but rather just three weeks. That’s right. In just three weeks cancerous tumor growth was cut in half by cannabis. It also showed that these cannabinoids could decrease the possibility of cancer spreading to other areas of the body. Some other key findings with this study include the fact that CB1 and CB2 receptors play a vital role in a range of biological functions. In fact, they play part in everything from pain to anxiety management, appetite stimulation and much more.
This research demonstrated that using nontoxic doses of THC could stop tumor growth from spreading in cell lines. One of the researchers explained the following;
“When cancerous cells are pretreated with THC there is less EGFR stimulated invasion meaning that THC is a valuable component in destroying cancer.” Dr. Anju Preet
The Need for Further Research
During the study, researchers injected low doses of THC into the test mice. These mice were previously induced with human lung cancer cells. In the control group, they noted that there was a 60% reduction and cancerous lesions in these mice and a significant reduction in protein markers that are also commonly related to cancer progression. 3 weeks later the size and weight of the tumors were reduced more than half.
While this is excellent news for the future treatment of cancer, the researchers of the study urge the need for further research. Research into the definitive effects that cannabinoids found within cannabis could play in the role of cancer treatment.