Marijuana Components ‘Effectively Inhibited Ovarian Cancer Cell Growth,’ Study Shows

*“Although our study is still preliminary, it lays an important foundation
for future research into the potential applications of CBD and THC in
ovarian cancer treatment.”*

*By Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers*

Ovarian cancer is dangerous and difficult to treat, partly because it’s
hard to diagnose early, and partly because it’s often resistant to existing
drugs. Now scientists looking for new treatments have identified two
promising compounds in cannabis.

Both THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) can stop
ovarian cancer cells reproducing, and a combination of both compounds kills
existing cancer cells. More research is needed to see if these compounds
work as well outside the lab, but if these findings are confirmed they
could become a source of new treatments for patients, less toxic and more
effective than current options.

In the future, scientists could use drugs made from cannabis to fight
ovarian cancer. A team of scientists testing the effects of two chemical
compounds sourced from cannabis on ovarian cancer cells have found that
both show promising anti-cancer effects. While more research will be
required to turn these results into drugs which can be delivered to
patients, these findings are an important opportunity to develop effective
new therapies for a cancer which is hard to diagnose and even harder to
treat.

“Ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest gynecological malignancies,
characterized by late diagnosis, high recurrence rates and limited
effective treatment options,” said Dr Siyao Tong of Khon Kaen University,
lead author of the article in Frontiers in Pharmacology. “Our goal is to
find alternative drugs that can improve efficacy and potentially reduce
toxicity, ultimately bringing new hope to patients facing this challenging
disease.”

“These findings highlight that CBD: THC combination treatment effectively
inhibited ovarian cancer cell growth and invasion.”

*A deadly illness*

Of all the gynecological cancers, ovarian cancer kills most patients.
Although there have been advances in treatment strategies, available drugs
are not always effective and come with formidable side effects. New options
are desperately needed. Since CBD (cannabidiol, which is not psychoactive)
and THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which is) have shown potential
against other cancers, the research team decided to test them against
ovarian cancer cells.

They took two different lines of ovarian cancer cells, one of which is
sensitive to platinum-derived drugs and one of which is resistant, and
challenged the lines with CBD, THC or both, to see if the cells could
survive and reproduce after exposure. The scientists also challenged a line
of healthy cells, to see if the compounds damaged them.

They found that cells for both cancer lines which had been treated with CBD
or THC formed fewer and smaller colonies of cells.

Though both compounds worked to prevent cancer cells reproducing, combining
them gave particularly good results. And although neither compound alone
killed a large proportion of cancer cells, a combination of the two was
very successful.

It’s possible that THC and CBD act on the cancer cells in different ways,
and when used together, their effects are amplified.

“Notably, the inhibitory effect was most pronounced when CBD and THC were
used in a 1:1 ratio,” said Tong.

Additional assays showed that the compounds prevented cells from migrating,
which means they might be able to stop ovarian cancer spreading to other
parts of the body. Many patients die of metastases, so a treatment which
prevents metastasis could save lives.

Both cell lines were similarly affected, suggesting that the compounds
could work equally well for different types of ovarian cancer. The
compounds and their combinations also had minimal effects on healthy cells,
which suggests that patients might find treatments made from them less
toxic and easier to tolerate than current drugs.

To understand the mechanism behind these anti-cancer effects, the
scientists looked at cell signaling pathways. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is
overactivated in ovarian cancer cells, which contributes to tumor
development and treatment resistance.

The CBD and THC compounds seemed to restore normal regulation of the
pathway, which could explain why the cancer cells couldn’t reproduce and
began to die off after treatment.

*Looking to the future*

But much more work remains to be done before these results can be
translated into practical treatments. The scientists call for further
research which can establish if and how these compounds can be used as
effective new ovarian cancer therapies.

“Although our study is still preliminary, it lays an important foundation
for future research into the potential applications of CBD and THC in
ovarian cancer treatment,” said Tong. “By confirming their anti-cancer
activity and identifying key molecular mechanisms, our findings are
expected to drive further preclinical research. If future studies confirm
these effects, CBD-THC combination therapy may ultimately contribute to the
development of new treatment strategies.”

“However, this study has some limitations,” Tong added. “All experiments
were conducted in vitro, so the results may not fully reflect the
complexity of tumor behavior in living organisms. We did not include in
vivo models and pharmacokinetic data, which are crucial for determining
whether CBD/THC can be safely and effectively used clinically. Finally,
regulatory and legal issues surrounding cannabinoid therapy may also affect
future translational research. While the results are encouraging, more
studies are needed before these findings can be applied to patient
treatment.”

*This story was first published by Frontiers.*

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Growth,’ Study Shows appeared first on Marijuana Moment.