Colombian Doctor Investigates Potential of Cannabis Against Aggressive Brain Cancer
The findings obtained by oncologist Andres Turizo Smith in laboratory tests aimed at reducing the side effects of chemotherapy and improving the quality of life of patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive primary brain cancer, still require further stages of research, but they are promising.
Everything will also depend on stronger support for this type of research, because its results could translate into new therapeutic alternatives for patients with this cancer, which grows rapidly, invades healthy brain tissue, and often reappears even after treatment.
The quality of life of patients diagnosed with this type of cancer, whose five-year survival rate is below 5%, could be improved through the use of compounds derived from the cannabis plant and black pepper. There would be a reduction in the side effects of conventional treatment, which combines surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
Research with cannabis and black pepper compounds
Researcher Turizo Smith, who holds a doctorate in Oncology from the National University of Colombia (UNAL), decided to explore and evaluate the therapeutic potential of compounds found in the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa) and black pepper (Piper nigrum) against this type of cancer.
Cannabinoids are natural compounds found in the cannabis plant. Among them, Turizo Smith primarily analyzed cannabigerol and cannabichromene, which showed potent cytotoxic activity, meaning they were capable of inducing the death of cancer cells, the UNAL News Agency, Unimedios, reported.
The effectiveness of these compounds was observed at significantly lower doses than those used with chemotherapy drugs such as temozolomide and cisplatin, which are used to treat this type of cancer and require much higher concentrations to achieve a similar effect. This is especially important because glioblastoma multiforme is known for developing resistance to conventional chemotherapy.
“As cancer becomes more aggressive and malignant, the tissue loses the characteristics of normal cells and begins to behave similarly to a stem cell. It becomes ‘selfish,’ because its only purpose is to grow, proliferate, and spread. In addition, it alters the immune system to favor its own growth,” the researcher said, as quoted by Unimedios.
For that reason, he emphasized that the cannabis compounds analyzed showed that the more aggressive the cancer was, the greater the effect of the cannabinoids on the tumor cells: the tumor tissue becomes more sensitive to the action of these compounds.
An opportunity to design targeted therapies
After analyzing 20 tumor samples from Colombian patients, the researcher identified that 67% expressed the protein PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1), which participates in the elimination of damaged mitochondria (the structures that generate energy for cells) and helps regulate their function.
Because PINK1 is not expressed in normal cells, it offers an opportunity to design targeted therapies that attack the tumor directly, reducing adverse effects and avoiding damage to healthy tissue, unlike conventional chemotherapy.
In addition, the research results showed that these cannabis compounds could help relieve some symptoms associated with glioblastoma, especially epileptic seizures.
“The compounds tend to be neuroprotective, meaning they help protect neurons; anti-inflammatory, because they reduce inflammation; and antiepileptic, since they help control epileptic seizures.
This last effect is especially important for treating glioblastoma multiforme because between 30% and 50% of patients develop epilepsy due to the location of the tumor,” the expert said.
Crossing the brain’s natural protective barrier
Another finding was the ability these compounds may have to reach the brain. Through the use of the in silico technique (a computer simulation that predicts how a substance would behave in the body before laboratory testing), it was demonstrated that most of the cannabinoids analyzed have a high probability of crossing the blood-brain barrier, a natural barrier that protects the brain and controls which substances can enter or leave it.
Crossing this barrier represents an important advance, since conventional treatments for this brain tumor have difficulty penetrating it, with the exception of temozolomide.
“Cannabinoids usually have low gastrointestinal absorption because the body is composed mostly of water. However, because they are compounds with an affinity for fats (lipophilic), they cross the blood-brain barrier very easily,” the researcher added in the same publication.
Among the compounds with the greatest probability of reaching the brain, the analyses identified cannabichromene, cannabigerol, cannabidiol, and tetrahydrocannabinol, together with piperine and beta-caryophyllene from black pepper.