Plant cannabinoids possess analgesic and anti-cancer effects and ought to be assessed in patients with prostate cancer, according to a literature review published in the Indian Journal of Urology.

A pair of investigators from Venezuela and the United States assessed the potential use of cannabis in the treatment of prostate cancer. They concluded: “Prostate cancer cells possess increased expression of both cannabinoid 1 and 2 receptors, and stimulation of these results in decrease in cell viability, increased apoptosis, and decreased androgen receptor expression and prostate-specific antigen excretion. … It is our conclusion that it would be of interest to conduct clinical trials involving medicinal cannabis or other cannabinoid agonists, comparing clinical markers such as PSA with controls, especially in men with bone metastatic prostate cancer, whom would not only benefit from the possible anti-androgenic effects of cannabinoids but also from analgesia of bone pain, improving quality of life, while reducing narcotic consumption and preventing opioid dependence.”

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men and the second cause for cancer-related death.

Cannabinoids and endocannabinoids have shown to be potent anti-cancer inhibitors in preclinical models, halting the proliferation of glioma cells, breast carcinoma, lung carcinoma, and lymphoma, among other cancer cell lines.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, “The role of cannabinoids in prostate cancer: Basic science perspective and potential clinical applications,” is available online here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339795/?tool=pubmed.

Article from NORML