Marijuana for Brain
Cancer?
Marijuana-like
drugs destroyed some brain
cancer cells in animals, helping them to live longer, but brain cancer
experts are unimpressed by the
results.
The findings, published in
the March issue of Nature Medicine, are aimed at helping scientists
find new treatments for this often-fatal disease. Researchers from
Complutense and Autonoma universities in Madrid, Spain, compared the
outcomes of rats with the brain cancer glioma after treating half of them
with an active ingredient found in marijuana called
THC.
The rats that didn't receive
treatment died within 18 days. Tumors in three of the treated rats
disappeared, and nine other treated rats survived up to 35
days.
Brain cancer specialists say
the glioma in these rats was not a very good imitation of glioma in
humans, therefore the findings may not translate well into new therapies
for people with this
disease.
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