"Cannabis and Breast Cancer"

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every October, people all over the world show their support for everyone affected by breast cancer.Worldwide, breast cancer is the leading type of cancer in women, accounting for 25% of all cases. It is more common in developed countries and is more than 100 times, more common in women than in men.

Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a red or scaly patch of skin. In those with distant spread of the disease, there may be bone pain, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath, or yellow skin.

Patient surveys have provided important insights about how people use medical cannabis. About 42% of people diagnosed with breast cancer who completed a survey for breastcancer.org said that they used medical cannabis products to manage breast cancer symptoms or treatment side effects. People who used medical cannabis ranged in age, cancer stage, and treatment phase, and most of them they found it to be “very” or “extremely” helpful.(75%)

Cannabinoids & Breast Cancer...

Because marijuana is federally illegal in the United States and worldwide, research on medical cannabis to manage cancer symptoms and treatment side effects is limited yet despite the fact that the first evidence of the ability of cannabinoids, and in particular Δ9- and Δ8-THC, to reduce the growth of  adenocarcinoma has been reported by Munson et al. in 1975 

In 2011, in Moleculars Canser Therapeutics, researchers showed that CBD, preferentially kills breast cancer cells and mediating a complex balance between autophagy and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

In previews article study funded by National Institutes of Health and published in 2007 from Mediccana.com, molecular biologists at the California Pacific Medical Center performed tests on human breast cancer cells that reveal how CBD could slow down and even halt the progression of the disease, even at its more virulent late-stage existence.

Also, in a 2012 study the experiments that described not only define the pathways that CBD is working through to control breast cancer cell aggressiveness, but also demonstrate the efficacy of CBD in pre-clinical models.

In CancerTreatmentReviews researchers summarizes their current knowledge on the anti-tumor potential of cannabinoids in breast cancer, which suggests that cannabinoid-based medicines may be useful for the treatment of most breast tumor subtypes

According to a 2020 review, other cannabinoids that has demonstrated anticancer properties, particularly against breast cancer is Cannabigerol (CBG) and Cannabichromene (CBC).

CBG have an important ability to reduce cell proliferation in tumoral cell lines.

It is very cytotoxic in high doses on carcinoma and is also highly effective 

against breast cancer.

CBC has an analgesic activity as well as pro-apoptotic and antiproliferative effects in tumor cell lines such as the human prostate carcinoma, human breast carcinoma, human gastric adenocarcinoma, human colorectal carcinoma. CBC also had antifungal and antibacterial effects and showed potent activity against Staphylococcus aureus strains, similar to the effects of CBG. Notise that CBC in combination with THC has a greater antiinflammatory effect...

Also, data presented in ScienceDirect suggest for the first time that as an active component in the cannabis plant, CBDA offers potential therapeutic modality in the abrogation of cancer cell migration, including aggressive breast cancers.

Final Thoughts...

Cannabis and specially non-psychoactive cannabinoids seems to be a good and safe option for breast cancer patients. If you decide that you’re interested in trying medical cannabis to treat your breast cancer symptoms or treatment side effects, the best advise is to talk to your doctor or to people with breast cancer who have used medical cannabis.

Think carefully about the delivery method you choose (Smoking or vaporizing cannabis or its oils may not be the safest choice for people receiving certain cancer treatments or with underlying lung conditions such as asthma, COPD, and interstitial lung disease) and have on mind that cannabis works differently for everyone, what works for someone else may not work for you. It’s best to “start low and go slow” as you increase the amount of medical cannabis you are taking.

As with all vitamins, supplements, herbs, and over-the counter medicines, always tell your doctor if you are using any type of cannabis product to make sure it won’t interact or interfere with your cancer treatments.