ACCORDING TO RESEARCHERS, inhaled CBD shrinks the size of highly aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma in an animal model by reducing its essential support of its microenvironment.
The researchers at DCG and Medical College of Georgia say that this approach not only helped ensure the compound found in cannabis reached our brain, but patients like asthma inhalers could eventually use it. “We were able to reduce the size of the tumor and its microenvironment,” says Dr. Baban, an immunologist at Augusta University’s Dental College who was involved with this study. After only seven days of treatment, he noted that their findings showed “a significant reduction.”
The researchers at DCG and Medical College of Georgia say this new approach not only ensures that cannabis reaches your brain but that the method of delivery could work, much like asthma inhalers, and eventually be easily used by patients. In addition, the researchers report that they found evidence to support the use of CBD in treating glioblastoma.
Utilizing modified glioblastoma cells from humans, they created an orthotopic glioblastoma model of brain cancer that could provide the most realistic look into how this lethal tumor behaves. After eight days in mice, a highly aggressive tumor was established in the brain of the mice. At day nine, they gave the mice a daily doses of inhaled placebo or CBD that continued for a week. The researchers then looked again at an image of the tumor and directly at the tumor tissue.
While the approach is likely similar to humans, at this moment, they are primarily looking at the biological response of the actual tumor to CBD, says Dr. Martin Rutkowski, MCG neurosurgeon whose expertise includes operating on these patients who tend to present after a sudden loss of consciousness or seizure, or with slower onset of neurological deficits like a weak arm, vision or cognitive problems.
Dr. Rutkowski today’s current treatment includes surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. “He says there is a clear relationship between the amount of tumor removed surgically and the length of survival. Surgery does not offer a cure, but it does provide an essential first step in maximizing quality of life and prognosis.
The research found that CBD appears adept at changing the tumor’s supportive tumor microenvironment or ecosystem, including restoring levels of inflammation that target rather than protect the glioblastoma, which could make it an effective, safe, and novel therapy for patients.
Moreover, for glioblastoma, the tumor microenvironment has been shown to increase the activity of natural immune barrier, which, as their name implies, helps prevent a restless response that could hurt your body, similar to what occurs in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. But this means protecting it instead because there’s a notable absence or low concentrations of cytotoxic T cells, which are adept at putting a tumor or other invader in the crosshairs.
“We’re excited that right now that the tumor shrinks,” says Dr. Baban of cannabinoid’s impact in glioblastoma patient outcomes. In addition, he and his colleague note how inhaled CBD had positive effects without being done alongside other therapies like surgery. However, they anticipate if this treatment proves successful for these patients, it will be a novel adjunct to current therapies.
In Conclusion, research has shown that CBD is excellent in controlling inflammation, and other conditions where inflammation occurs, including diseases like Alzheimer’s, which prompted Baban and his colleagues to pursue the Cannabidiol derivative for glioblastoma. Cannabidiol is bringing hope to patients with varying disorders, and CBD in glioblastoma research is just another Cannabidiol and cancer study with promising results. For more information, please see the references below.