CBD could help reduce chemotherapy doses

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered that the cannabidiol (CBD) can help chemotherapy treatments specifically target malignant cancer cells, while ignoring healthy ones.

This new method could enable doctors to reduce the doses of chemotherapy administered to patients, as well as the severity of side effects commonly associated with these drugs.

«Most cancer treatments are not specific enough, i.e. they attack both the healthy and malignant cells they are trying to get rid of,» said Professor Alexander Binshtok, co-author of the study at Israel21c. «This leads to many serious side effects associated with chemotherapy. Eliminating cancer cells while leaving healthy ones is an important step in [reducing] patient suffering.»

The study looked at the use of CBD in combination with adriamycin, a molecule used in chemotherapy to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells. The researchers used CBD to activate a protein called TRPV2, which can open a channel in the membranes of liver cancer cells. This channel allows adriamycin to enter cancer cells directly, while staying away from healthy cells.

The study demonstrated that «adriamycin-induced cell death is significantly more potent, requiring a significantly lower dose when applied in conjunction with CBD».

In other words, low doses of adriamycin, which would normally be ineffective at killing cancer cells, became effective when combined with CBD. This CBD-facilitated effect «minimizes the non-targeted effect of adriamycin and therefore significantly reduces undesirable side effects», explained the authors.

«It's too early to make any concrete predictions, but we hope this discovery will pave the way for a new, more targeted delivery method for chemotherapy treatments, one that will significantly reduce patients» pain," said Binshtok.