People have been using cannabis for centuries. For various reasons, including health. Its prohibition is but a blimp in its long history with humans. Now, with legalization spreading, folks have access to medicinal cannabis again, and scientists are analyzing its many cannabinoids and their effects on human health. It is clear they, with terpenes, have potent ameliorative effects that protect against disease.
What is more, evidence clearly shows cannabis having a very positive effect on several cancer types, including leukemia. This is powerful, as millions die from cancer every year in just in the United States. The numbers are staggering, with lung, breast, bladder, and leukemia the most common cancers of them. Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are risky in their own right, making treatment difficult.
Fortunately, several emerging therapies are making treatments easier to manage and to bear, with cannabis gaining much momentum in this specific field. According to the National Cancer Institute, the antitumor and anticancer properties of cannabis already fall under recognized science. The medical community knows that cannabinoids induce death of cancer cells, as well as inhibit their growth.
Understanding Leukemia
Leukemia, a cancer that affects blood cells, comes with a misunderstood label attached. It has no known cause, although exposure to cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, as well as to chemicals and smoking, might all be potential risk factors. Family history is also a likely suspect, but numbers of new cases keep growing. It essentially makes blood cells malignant.
Leukemia triggers the production of abnormal white blood cells, or leukocytes. They account for roughly one percent of blood, yet are crucial to maintaining health and protecting against infection, illness, and disease. White blood cells fight bad bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other unwanted invaders. They form within bone barrow and store in lymphatic tissues.
Leukemia and other blood cancers cause white blood cells to reproduce uncontrollably. Their growth explodes, leading to infection, bleeding, and these excess leukocytes to attack the body. You might have sore joints or bones. Fever. Swollen lymph nodes. It may cause frequent infection and bleeding, and it will leave you tired and losing weight.
Sadly, conventional medicine often makes treatment almost as bad as the cancer itself. You cannot protect against leukemia, and treatments are devastating, often citing anemia, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, hair loss, fatigue, and worse, as common side effects. For many patients, treating these symptoms makes surviving cancer treatment possible. As such, most search “weed delivery near me.”
Effects of Cannabis on Leukemia
Evidence is emerging in the scientific literature that supports the anticancer findings of cannabis. According to the International Journal of Oncology, one study investigated the anticancer properties of some cannabinoids, and in conjunction with chemotherapy. It found cannabinoids with anticancer effects when used on their own, although some show it even more potent when combined.
For example, both tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD, are more effective when consumed together, as opposed to on his or her own. What is more, this pairing works even better when combined with chemotherapy drugs. The study noted that using cannabinoids after chemotherapy caused even more cancer cells to die than just chemotherapy did alone. It proves highly efficacious.
Another study, this one in BioMed Central, shows THC with powerful antitumor functionality. The team noted support of anecdotal evidence suggesting THC contributory in controlling disease in a leukemia patient. The study specifically tested this hypothesis. The researchers analyzed Dronabinol, a synthetic THC, and its effect on leukemia cells lines.
It found a powerful anti-proliferative effect. THC clearly mediated cell death via both CB1 and CB2 receptors found abundantly in the endocannabinoid system. The report concludes with, “Our study provides rigorous data to support clinical evaluation of THC as a low-toxic therapy option in a well-defined subset of acute leukemia patients.” News could frankly not be better.
THC and Its Cancer-Killing Effect
Apoptosis is one mechanism of action by which cannabinoids might cause death of cancer cells. This is a natural process; one your body is familiar with on a daily basis. Apoptosis causes controlled death at the cellular level, as part of the natural lifecycle of an organism, its proper growth, development, and ultimately, its death. That same study showed THC inducing apoptosis in leukemia T cells.
These studies show the effects of cannabinoids directly on specific cell lines. The environment is laboratory. Case studies are rarer. This one, with a single-person sample size, from Case Reports in Oncology, tested these findings in a human patient with leukemia, a 14-year old suffering an aggressive form. This patient endured chemotherapy, radiation, even a bone marrow transplant. To no avail.
Over a 34-month period, none of these treatments worked. They all failed, and so, with no options left really, the patient began oral cannabinoid therapy. Doctors noted a rapid dose-dependent correlation, stating, “Cannabinoids are usually well tolerated and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional chemotherapies.”
The team observed a drop in cancer cell counts during treatment, concluding that the cannabinoids consumed had both anti-proliferative and pro-apoptosis properties. The study also proved the patient happier, with increased vitality and no harmful side effects, only helpful psychosomatic ones. As more patients search “weed delivery near me,” it seems cannabinoid therapy is going mainstream.
Cannabis seems a very promising treatment for leukemia in the future. Its active compounds will play an essential role in the lives of leukemia patients worldwide, whether they use them alone or in combination with other treatments and medications. Regardless, it can certainly help to mitigate side effects of chemical treatment, boost treatment outcomes, and improve outlook and mood.
Source: https://www.potvalet.com/blog/how-marijuana-helps-destroy-leukemia-cells/
