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Description
Cancer (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, and do not invade or metastasize. Most cancers form a tumor but some, like leukemia, do not. The branch of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer is oncology.
Cancer affects people at all ages with the risk for most types increasing with age. Cancer caused about 13% of all human deaths in 2007 (7.6 million).
Cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells. These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may randomly occur through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. The heritability of cancers is usually affected by complex interactions between carcinogens and the host's genome.
Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two general classes of genes. Cancer-promoting oncogenes are typically activated in cancer cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive growth and division, protection against programmed cell death, loss of respect for normal tissue boundaries, and the ability to become established in diverse tissue environments. Tumor suppressor genes are then inactivated in cancer cells, resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle, orientation and adhesion within tissues, and interaction with protective cells of the immune system.
Definitive diagnosis requires the histologic examination of a biopsy specimen, although the initial indication of malignancy can be symptomatic or radiographic imaging abnormalities. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on detectable molecular abnormalities in certain tumors, and which minimize damage to normal cells. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments.
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Our products are based on cannabinoids, which are a group of terpenophenolic compounds present in Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L). Currently, 538 natural compounds were identified from this plant. 43 of these 108 are identified as cannabinoids, which are C21 compounds uniquely present in Cannabis sativa L. There are ten main types of cannabinoids and fourteen different cannabinoid subtypes. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the principal psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, but it also has other effects. Cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) are the other two most prevalent natural cannabinoids and have received the most study. All three are listed as ingredients in Sativex®, the only multi-cannabinoid medicine currently approved for marketing (only in Canada.)
Cannabinoids were first discovered in the 1940s, when CBD and CBN were identified. THC was not identified until 1964, but by that time cannabis had been removed from the pharmacopeiae of most countries, making further research on the plant difficult.
There are three general types of cannabinoids:
1 Phytocannabinoids occur uniquely in the cannabis plant.
2 Endogenous cannabinoids are produced in the bodies of humans and other animals.
3 Synthetic cannabinoids are similar compounds produced in a laboratory. Forms of synthetic THC are available by prescription in a number of countries, including the US. In the US, synthetic THC is marketed as Marinol®.
Phytocannabinoids, also called natural cannabinoids, herbal cannabinoids, and classical cannabinoids, are only known to occur naturally in significant quantity in the cannabis plant. They are concentrated in a viscous resin that is produced in glandular structures known as trichomes, and are most prevalent in the flowers of the female plants.
Cannabinoid receptors in the human body were not discovered until 1990. CB1 receptors are found primarily in the brain, specifically in the basal ganglia and in the limbic system, including the hippocampus. They are also found in the cerebellum and in both male and female reproductive systems.
CB1 receptors appear to be responsible for the euphoric and anti-convulsive effects of cannabis.
Cannabinoid pharmaceuticals, unlike many other pharmaceutical compounds, do not represent a risk factor for respiratory or cardiovascular failure. Cannabis has been called one of the safest drugs known by Federal Judge Young in 1977. In fact, there is no known lethal dose of cannabis. It has an estimated therapeutic index of 40,000 to one as compared to aspirin with a therapeutic index of 15.
CB2 receptors are found almost exclusively in the immune system, with the greatest density in the spleen. CB2 receptors appear to be responsible for the anti-inflammatory and possibly other therapeutic effects of cannabis.
The endocannabinoid system refers to a group of neuromodulators and receptors involved in a variety of physiological processes including appetite, pain sensation, mood, and memory. The system is named for endocannabinoids, the endogenous lipids that bind cannabinoid receptors (the same receptors that mediate the psychoactive effects of cannabis).
Science increasingly recognizes the role that endo-cannabinoids play in almost every major life function in the human body. Cannabinoids act as a bio regulatory mechanism for most life processes, which explains why medical cannabis has been recommended as a treatment for many diseases and ailments in anecdotal reports and scientific literature. Some of these ailments include: Pain, arthritic conditions, migraine headaches, anxiety, epileptic seizures, insomnia, loss of appetite, GERD (chronic heartburn), nausea, glaucoma, AIDS wasting syndrome, depression, bipolar disorder (particularly depression-manic-normal), multiple sclerosis, menstrual cramps, Parkinson's, trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux), high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, and bladder incontinence.
Cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years in China, India and the Middle East. Of course, most traditional medicines were plant-based, but until recently no one knew how or why they worked. Modern science now routinely verifies the efficacy of this "folk medicine" tradition and the door is opening to a more systematic and effective use of cannabinoid therapies.
While cannabis was widely used in the West during the 19th century, the technology was lacking to detect and understand its active ingredients, to standardize dosages of those ingredients, and to effectively deliver those ingredients, owing largely to cannabis's non-water-solubility. Consequently, it became less widely used in the early 20th century and was eventually renamed "marijuana" and banned as part of a politically-driven prohibition craze. It was gradually removed from the pharmacopeiae of most advanced countries; research was discouraged, and when beneficial results were discovered, the studies were sometimes suppressed.
For example, when Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was recently diagnosed with a form of brain cancer, malignant glioma, the media largely ignored reports from the medical cannabis community of studies showing that cannabinoids can kill glioma cancer cells. Nearly a decade ago, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' weekly news release for December 31, 1998 reported that "Cell studies performed by researchers at Madrid's Universidad Complutense demonstrate that THC, one of the active compounds in marijuana, can induce cell death in certain brain tumor cells without affecting the surrounding healthy cells."
Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen of the German-based Association for Cannabis as Medicine (ACM) proposed that marijuana's constituents may one day play a role in cancer treatment. "It is desirable to have a substance that induces programmed cell death in tumor cells but not in health cells for the treatment of cancer," he wrote in the December 13 issue of the ACM-Bulletin. "It has been demonstrated by the Spanish scientists ... that THC could be such a substance."
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