Promising New Research on CBD and Lung Cancer Treatment
There has been more and more research coming out about the potential of CBD oil to help in the treatment of lung cancer.
This latest research, titled, Cannabidiol Induces Cell Death in Human Lung Cancer Cells and Cancer Stem Cells was published in the scientific journal Pharmaceuticals. The principal researchers were Dr. Hussein Hamad and Dr. Birgitte Brinkmann Olsen from the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Odense University Hospital in Denmark.
I think it is important to start out by making it clear that in scientific terms this is a young field of research with a lot of work still to do. There has been no human clinical trials on the effects of CBD oil on lung cancer, but I suspect this will change as more compelling research is published.
CBD (or the full name: cannabidiol) oil is a an extract taken from the hemp plant and processed in a laboratory. CBD oil typically does not contain any of the psychoactive components you would associate with cannabis. In other words, CBD oil does not give you the “high” that cannabis does.
Lung cancer is the second most prevalent type of cancer, after breast cancer. In the United States there is on average about 225,000 cases of diagnosed lung cancer.
Studies in the past have indicated that CBD may play a role in helping alleviate cancer, but there have been no human trials done so far. Most of the research has been done on animals or “in-vitro” (in a test tube).
In this most recent study, Cannabidiol Induces Cell Death in Human Lung Cancer Cells and Cancer Stem Cells , the researchers were looking at the effects of CBD on lung cancer, looked specifically at the effects it has on human lung cancer cells and cancer stem cells.
As they state at the beginning of their paper, “there is no effective therapy against lung cancer due to the development of resistance.” In other words, when lung cancer patients undergo treatment in the form of radio- and chemotherapy they tend to develop a resistance to treatment over time, making treatment potentially less effective over the long-term.
The presence of cancer stem cells has been attributed as a possible reason for this treatment resistance over time. So the researchers looked at the possibility of CBD being able to play a role in decreasing the presence of cancer stem cells. The presence of cancer stem cells post-treatment have also been theorized to increase the risk of recurrence.
The researchers state that the findings of their suggests that, “CBD is effective against the otherwise treatment-resistant cancer stem cells and joins a growing list of compounds effective against cancer stem cells.”
Of course, this is early days and more research has to be done, including human trials, but the conclusions are encouraging. The researchers also point out that, “CBD not only has shown promising anti-cancer effects but also has anti-inflammatory effects and effects in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and chronic pain management.”
With CBD now legal in Canada, people are reporting success in using CBD to alleviate their health symptoms, mainly when it comes to inflammatory diseases like:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
People are also finding encouraging results using CBD to help alleviate the symptoms of anxiety disorders.
Again, the research on the health benefits of CBD remain in their infancy, but with this latest research on its effects on lung cancer stem cells and all the other lines of research that are ongoing, it will be interesting to see where this all leads.
If you are interested in talking to health professional about your health and how CBD might help you, consider booking a free, online consultation with one of our team at Hello MD. They can go over your medical history, current prescriptions and make recommendations on how you might use CBD to help you.