The main mind-bending ingredient in cannabis – psychoactive drug – may be wont to scale back growth in cancer patients, in keeping with a global analysis team.
Previous studies have recommended that cannabinoids, of that psychoactive drug (THC), is one, have anti-cancer properties. In 2009, researchers at Complutense University in the European nation found that psychoactive drug induced the death of brain cancer cells in an exceedingly method referred to as “autophagy.”
The researchers found that administering a psychoactive drug to mice with human tumors initiated autophagy and caused the expansion of the tumors to decrease. 2 human patients with extremely aggressive brain tumors WHO received intracranial administration of psychoactive drug additionally showed similar signs of autophagy, upon analysis.
The team behind the new study – co-led by Complutense University and therefore the University of England (UEA) within Great Britain – claims to possess discovered antecedently unknown “signaling platforms” that enable the psychoactive drug to shrink tumors.
The researchers induced tumors in mice victimization samples of human carcinoma cells. once the tumors were targeted with doses of psychoactive drug, the researchers found that 2 cell receptors were notably related to associate degree anti-tumor response.
“THC, the foremost active part of marijuana, has anti-cancer properties. This compound is understood to act through a particular family of cell receptors known as cannabinoid receptors,” says Dr. Peter McCormick, from UEA’s College of Pharmacy.
