Written by Renata Filiaci, MSHW, CD(DONA), RP

Cancer refers to any one of a large number of diseases characterized by the development of abnormal cells that divide uncontrollably and have the ability to infiltrate and destroy normal body tissue. Cancer often has the ability to spread throughout your body. There are many signs and symptoms, but also not specific to just cancer, so it is best to go to the doctor annually for a check up and blood test to check blood cell levels.

Cancer has a complex Pathophysiology. Cancer is caused by changes (mutations) to the DNA within cells. The DNA inside a cell is packaged into a large number of individual genes, each of which contains a set of instructions telling the cell what functions to perform, as well as how to grow and divide. Errors in the instructions can cause the cell to stop its normal function and may allow a cell to become cancerous.

A gene mutation can instruct a healthy cell to:

• Allow rapid growth which means gene mutation can tell a cell to grow and divide more rapidly.
• Fail to stop uncontrolled cell growth that means failing at apoptosis which is natural cell death.
• Make mistakes when repairing DNA errors which means the mutation isn’t corrected.

Risk factors include:

• Your age
• Your habits: stress, smoking, drinking, obesity, sun exposure, or sex.
• Family history: genetic
• Health conditions: chronic illness, like ulcerative colitis can cause colorectal cancer
• Environment: harmful chemicals, secondhand smoke

At Upstate CBD, we do not treat, prescribe, or diagnose and we do not claim that CBD will cure cancer; however, we are seeing many studies that show its potential in reducing cancer proliferation and tumor growth.  

For instance, there has been anti-cancer effects from cannabinoids on numerous types of cancer, such as:

• Glioma (brain malignancy) – The anti-proliferative effects of CBD on GBMs are quite clear. CBD, alone or with other agents, has been shown to successfully induce cell death, inhibit cell migration and invasion in vitro, decrease tumor size, vascularization, growth, and weight, and increase survival and induce tumor regression.
• Breast – CBD has shown to induce significant cell death as well as inhibit migration, invasion, and metastasis in aggressive breast cancers. Various breast cancer cell lines, such as estrogen-receptor and triple negative cells have shown to stay consistently low when given CBD.
• Lung – Various lung cancer cell lines have been shown to express CB1 and CB2 receptors which the anti-invasive function of cannabinoids partly relies on. CBD decreased the viability of both lung adenocarcinoma cell lines and large cell lung carcinoma cell lines. CBD also significantly reduced tumor size and lung metastatic nodules.
• Colorectal – Normal human colorectal tissue does express both CB1, CB2, and endocannabinoid-metabolizing enzymes. The anti-proliferative effects of CBD are likely due to its ability to induce mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and excessive endoplasmic reticulum stress. Apoptosis has been described as the main pathway of cell death by CBD in CRC.
• Leukemia/Lymphoma – EL-4 and Jurkat cell lines are the commonly used models for lymphoma and leukemia. CBD induced a dose- and time-dependent killing effect on these leukemia and lymphoma cell lines. Researchers found that in both EL-4 and Jurkat cells, CBD’s anti-proliferative effects were mediated through CB2, but independent of CB1 which shows apoptosis as the mechanism by which CBD-mediated cell death occurs on these cancerous cells.
• Prostate – Prostate cancer cell lines used in studies can be divided into androgen receptor; CBD can inhibit the expression of the androgen receptor in AR-positive cell lines. Additionally, treatment with CBD was shown to downregulate the expression prostate-specific antigen (PSA), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and pro-inflammatory cytokines.