AiA
|
Liver cancer:
Are you a man over 50 who have used and abused your liver? Well, listen up. Cannabis may help treat one of the most common — and most deadly — forms of liver cancers that affects your age bracket.
Yep, time to start diggin’ the middle-aged reefer madness, cause it’s a comin’.
That cancer is Hepatocellular Carcinoma, or HCC, and it is one of the most common types of liver cancer found in men over 50, HCC not only accounts for about two-thirds of all liver cancers, but is also considered one of the more lethal cancers, in part because so few treatment options exist.
Well, until now.
According to a recent report published by The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, cannabinoids may be the treatment option doctors have been looking for to fight against HCC.
HCC is caused by scarring within the liver — alcohol abuse, autoimmune disorders and Hepatitis B or C are the common precursors, although the causes are certainly not limited to this — and it’s a quite unique disease, because unlike other metastatic liver cancers, HCC starts and remains in the liver.
But while one may conclude that HCC would be less deadly because it’s contained in the liver, think again. The liver is a vital organ, and without a working unit, well, you’re screwed.
Given the lack of HCC treatment options, researchers decided to “investigate the effects of cannabinoids as novel therapeutic targets” as a way to cut down on the HCC-related deaths. And it appears to have worked.
During the study, scientists used synthetic cannabinoids to target the damaged cell lines, the in turn discovered that even man-made cannabinoids do indeed inhibit the growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, and lead to a healthier liver and cell cycle arrest.
That, in lament’s terms, means that cannabinoids — those long-demonized properties found in cannabis — are thought to shut down the tumor properties of HCC, effectively fighting the cancer.
Here. Read it for yourself, if you can understand it:
“These results suggested that cannabinoid receptor agonists, including WIN, may be considered as novel therapeutics for the treatment of HCC.”
So yeah. Marijuana, or the cannabinoids in marijuana, are continuing to make major strides in the treatment of cannabis. Pretty cool, eh?
- See more at: http://dankslate.com/cannabis/marijuana-fights-a-very-common-very-lethal-type-of-liver-cancer-study-shows/#sthash.A1RQpxwo.dpuf
|