PMCB Cannabinoids and Cancer
A goal of PharmaCyte Biotech is to combine the Cell-in-a-Box® cellulose-based live cell encapsulation technology with constituents of Cannabis, known as cannabinoids, or cannabinoid-like compounds to develop unique treatments for difficult-to-treat and deadly forms of cancer, such as brain cancer. Some cannabinoids are prodrugs that must be converted into their cancer-killing form. These prodrugs will be used with the Cell-in-a-Box® technology in ways that optimize their anticancer properties while minimizing or even eliminating adverse side effects normally occurring with chemotherapy to treat cancers.
The U.S. FDA has already approved drugs based on their effectiveness for medical use. These include nabilone (Cesamet®) and Marinol® for the treatment of cancer chemotherapy-associated nausea and vomiting that does not respond to conventional antiemetic drugs.
About 40% of the states in the U.S. have now approved or its constituents for medical use. Several countries throughout the world have done the same.
PharmaCyte Biotech has embarked on a path of research designed to capitalize on the medicinal properties of cannabinoids and its components have been used in medicine for centuries to treat a wide variety of ailments. Drugs developed from cannabinoids have been approved to treat medical conditions such as nausea, vomiting and pain. More recently, the scientific literature has become replete with articles that testify to the activity of cannabinoids and cannabinoid-like compounds in the treatment of serious diseases, including cancer.
PharmaCyte Biotech has acquired an exclusive worldwide license from Austrianova to use the Cell-in-a-Box® cellulose-based live-cell encapsulation technology in combination with cannabinoid compounds for the treatment of diseases and associated medical conditions.
PharmaCyte Biotech is examining ways to exploit the benefits of Cell-in-a-Box® technology in optimizing the anticancer effectiveness of cannabinoids, while minimizing or outright eliminating the debilitating side effects usually associated with cancer treatments.
The two most familiar cannabinoids are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). While THC is associated with psychotropic effects, CBD is not. Cannabis that is rich in CBD is preferred for medicinal purposes.
The anticancer effects of cannabinoids were first shown in an animal model of lung cancer in 1975. Interest in using cannabinoids for cancer treatment was rekindled in the mid-1990s by a study in animals that indicated that THC decreased the incidence of liver cancer in mice and tumors of the mammary glands, uterus, pituitary glands, testes and the pancreas in rats. Since 2001, interest in the anticancer properties of cannabinoids has increased significantly.
In the laboratory, cannabinoids have shown effectiveness against glioma (a type of brain cancer), lymphoma, pancreatic, skin, breast, thyroid, colorectal and prostate cancer cells. In mice, cannabinoids reduced tumor growth and spreading (metastasis) and were also shown to inhibit the growth of new blood vessels required for tumor growth. In 2006, in a small, early-phase clinical trial, THC was shown to be beneficial for patients in treating glioblastoma multiforme, a severe and deadly type of brain cancer, when safe (non-psychoactive) doses were used.
PharmaCyte Biotech’s Cannabinoid Research Program
In May 2014 PharmaCyte Biotech entered into a research agreement with the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) to perform initial research that will be necessary for the development of cannabinoid-based treatments for serious cancers. The UNC is working to identify a cell type that is capable of converting cannabinoid-like prodrugs into their cancer-killing forms. Once a satisfactory cell type is identified, the cells will be encapsulated using the Cell-in-a-Box® technology for use in combination with one or more cannabinoid prodrugs. If a suitable cell type cannot be identified, efforts will be undertaken by Austrianova to produce the appropriate cell type by gene transfection. This strategy is similar to that used in PharmaCyte’s pancreatic cancer treatment where the cells capable of converting the cancer prodrug ifosfamide into its cancer-killing form were developed by gene transfection and then encapsulated using the Cell-in-a-Box® technology.
cannbinoids
CB1
Location
– Brain
– Spinal Cord
– Peripheral Tissues
Function
– Movement/Postural Control
– Pain/Sensory Perception
– Memory
– Cognition
– Emotion
– Functions
– Appetite/Food Intake
– Energy Metabolism
CB2
Location
– Immune Tissues
Function
– Mediates Regulation of Cytokine Release from Immune Cells
– Immune Cell Migration/Reduction Inflammation and Pain
