Key cannabis chemical may help prevent colon cancer
A CHEMICAL in marijuana may be able to help prevent colon cancer, according to a new study from University of South Carolina researchers.
The study, published in iScience, an interdisciplinary open access journal, found that mice injected with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and a cancer-causing chemical did not develop cancer.
Mice in a control group were injected with the carcinogen but no THC, causing them to develop cancer.
“We were really excited to see those results, which were so dramatic,” said co-author Prakash Nagarkatti, who is the University of South Carolina’s vice president of research.
THC is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects. It acts much like the cannabinoid chemicals made naturally by the body, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
THC, which causes a “high”, prevented cancer from emerging in mice by reducing inflammation in the colon, said Nagarkatti, who is one of United States’ leading marijuana researchers.
This could be useful for people who have illnesses such as Crohn’s disease and colitis, where longterm inflammation increases the risk of cancer, he said.
“We clearly need to do clinical trials and additional research needs to be done,” Nagarkatti added
Chronic inflammation is also thought to increase the risk for other types of cancer, such as breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer, Nagarkatti said.
“There are quite a few of these cancers that are triggered by chronic inflammation,” he said.
Nagarkatti’s conclusion corroborates anecdotal evidence that THC may be effective in helping humans with illnesses like Crohn’s that cause chronic inflammation.
In states where medical marijuana is legal, many people with inflammatory bowel disease who have tried using marijuana have reported to their doctors it lessened symptoms and improved quality of life.
While colonoscopies have reduced the amount of colon cancer in older Americans, data shows that more Americans in their 40s are getting colon cancer,
Perhaps the most public example of this recently was actor Chadwick Bozeman, the South Carolina native and star of Black Panther, who died late last month at age 43 from colon cancer. Boseman played the character of King T’Challa, who presides over the futuristic African nation of Wakanda.
Mitzi Nagarkatti, the chair of the university’s department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology who is married to Prakash, is listed as a co-author on the study.
The duo have recently published multiple studies on chemicals found in marijuana.
Recently, they published a study that found THC may be able to treat a deadly complication of Covid-19 by tamping down a harmful immune system response to the coronavirus.