(Newswire.net — November 16, 2014) — A new research carried out by specialists at St Georges, University of London, showed two cannabis components out of 85 that are particularly significant in fighting a cancer.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are components directly linked with brain cancer disappearance in mice, claims study published in the Molecular Cancer Therapeutics journal.
THC and CBD can have a significant effect on the size of cancerous tumors in the brain, especially when combined with radiotherapy, as the growths can virtually “disappear,” researchers say.
“The results are extremely exciting. The tumors were treated in a variety of ways, either with no treatment, the cannabinoids alone, and irradiation alone or with both the cannabinoids and irradiation at the same time,” Dr. Wai Liu, senior research fellow and lead researcher on the project, told Science Daily.
Dr. Liu said that tests involving THC and CBD carried out on mice showed that any cancerous growth slowed down immediately, however, the best results came with the combination of THC-CBD therapy along with the radiotherapy. The combined treatments resulted in completely disappearance of brain cancer.
“The benefits of the cannabis plant elements were known before but the drastic reduction of brain cancers if used with irradiation is something new and may well prove promising for patients who are in gravely serious situations with such cancers in the future,” Dr. Liu said.
Researchers now consider human trials are possibile.
The other side of the same coin is that the impact of THC has not been found to be consistently positive, as neuroscientists at the University of Texas find the brain’s grey matter could be much more vulnerable than white matter to THC-CBD effects.
Researches at University of Texas find that the structural connectivity or ‘wiring’ of the brain starts degrading with prolonged marijuana use, even the primary results of occasional users show both structural and functional increase in neural connectivity.
According to one of the study’s authors, Sina Aslan, that increase is merely a compensation for gray matter losses.