According to a study[7] from 2016, researchers found that chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells contain large amounts of cannabinoid receptors. Unfortunately, this study was unable to conclude that using cannabinoids alone has anti-cancer properties in leukemia cells.
However, a later study[8] from 2017 showed promising results for potential leukemia treatment. The same study[9] found that cannabinoid use may promote healthy cell development, reduce activity in leukemia cells, and healthy production of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
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RamOren
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I have tried CBD oil, but it doesn't work as well for me as the gummies. I am on W&W and take one 25mg gummy (no THC) twice a day, morning and evening.
They have greatly reduced my lipomas and helped with insomnia. I still wake up at night, but am able to fall back asleep.
Anything that helps you be more relaxed and fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer is a good thing… I have tried it on and off several times with mixed results. Now I take NAC at night and it works great… (NAC) N-Acetyl-Cysteine.
No doubt this has been covered in past discussions, but I was taking it at night, but then came across some article that indicated to me that it was not good for CLL, and I quit some months ago. Don't recall the article, but generally only read articles from ncbi. If you have a recent article to the contrary, would love to get the link. Thanks.
‘This study demonstrates that it is safe to administrate a single dose of Sativex to elderly patients with indolent B-cell lymphoma with regards to adverse events. We show that the cannabis compound quickly reduces lymphoma cell numbers in peripheral blood. There was no evidence of activation of caspase 3; this suggests that the reduction of lymphoma cells in blood might be due to redistribution from blood rather than apoptosis. We have also detected an apparent circadian rhythm of the peripheral numbers of malignant lymphocytes.
Our findings suggest that the drug might promote homing of lymphoma cells from blood into secondary lymphoid organs where they receive pro-survival signals. Therefore, this cannabinoid compound should be used with caution in patients with indolent leukemic lymphomas. Further studies are needed to dissect the signaling pathways affected by cannabinoids in B-cell lymphoma.’
In simple terms, the suggestion is that it may push CLL cells from the peripheral blood into the nodes and organs and they are more difficult to shift from there! It moves them rather than kills them! 😟
However, this study does refer to Sativex which is medically prescribed cannabis in the U.K.
I tried CBD oil After first being diagnosed with CLL, most to help my sleep and appetite. After two doses per day for several months, concluded it was not slowing my CLL, sleeping or appetite. Determined it was a waste of money.
At age 16 in post-war Europe, where "coming of age" for male adolescents required initiation to alcohol and cigarettes to assure parents "...well he is becoming a man !", I decided never to smoke after trying one cigarette at age 16, and after a bit of "social parties alcohol" in subsequent years, I decided never to smoke and to avoid alcohol. Although my international travel exposed me to nightlife environments, I never used any illegal substances, nor was I offered any or invited into "deals" or contraband: Perhaps I looked too much like a "cop" because fitness from jogging. For me, no drugs, no alcohol, no drugs has paid off because I'll be 88 in few weeks, and in spite of CLL and other problems, right now my CBC and CMP are normal. But if if your doctor agrees, and the stuff helps your feeling well - it may be alright for you ! I do "get high" on music therapy ! Stimulating, energizing music triggers cells in my brain. You can try an experiment to energize (not for sleep or calm!): Under the internet search term BAHIA YOUTH TICO appear a half a dozen music videos. It takes a while to watch all. After finishing this therapy, how do you feel ?
You found a good overview article on the potential use of cannabinoids with leukaemia, but as the article notes, it covers all leukaemias:
"Some common forms of leukemia include:
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)
Hairy cell leukemia
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)"
Thepositive study[9]cited, was an abstract pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/285... reporting on investigations into synergistic effects with common anti-leukaemia drugsin cell line models, with HL60 specifically mentioned. CLL cell lines are very hard to establish, so such studies nearly always report the use of other than CLL cell lines and indeed HL60 is from acute promyelocytic leukemia, not a lymphoid stem cell line, let alone a B-cell leukemia, of which there are many, with CLL being the most common. Even for myeloid leukaemias, the study result is just encouraging further research to determine whether it's possible to get a high enough blood serum concentration of CBD oil during treatment with proven leukaemia drugs. I have seen positive reporting for such a synergistic trial in human subjects, but it wasn't for a B cell leukemia/lymphoma, but an acute myeloid stem cell line leukemia.
There has been a huge amount of interest in exploring the use of CBD with leukaemias, but for CLL, the research has been very disappointing. Per the first citation there seems to be "limited potential for therapeutic exploitation" and per Newdawn's reply, even concern that taking CBD with CLL might give the appearance of an improvement through a reduction in absolute lymphocyte count, but what might really be happening, is that the CLL cells are just being driven back into the nodes, where they most actively grow.
For CLL specific uses of cannabinoid based therapeutical options, the best evidence has been for using it to reduce nausea during treatment and for pain relief. Unfortunately even there, it seems to be more hype than actual, though it may well be found to help for some of us if other, better evidenced treatments aren't effective, CLL being such a heterogeneous illness.
It looks to me like the Health Canal web page is more about marketing than anything else. It cites one really old in-vitro study from 2006 that is paywalled, and one more recent in-vitro study from 2017 that's fully readable. The vast majority of in-vitro studies don't later pan out on in-vivo studies. That's largely due to dosage issues, where it's impossible to safely duplicate in-vitro dosages in animals. But it's also due to additional complexities in actual tissues.
What we really want to see are recent, in-vivo studies - studies in actual patients. So I did a PubMed search for cannabinoid chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Cannabinoid Receptors Are Overexpressed in CLL but of Limited Potential for Therapeutic Exploitation
PLoS One. 2016; 11(6): e0156693.
Published online 2016 Jun 1. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156693
One problem is the same as we have with existing CLL drugs - off target responses. There are cannabinoid receptors on many types of cells. One would need to make a combination drug that targets only or mostly CLL cells to kill them. Cannabinoids by themselves apparently don't kill cells in tissues.
Clinical effects of a single dose of cannabinoids to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Published online: 17 Jan 2022.
in-vivo
"This phase II clinical trial investigates a one-time oromucosal dose of tetrahydrocannabinol/cannabidiol (THC/CBD) in 23 patients with indolent leukemic B cell lymphomas. Primary endpoint was a significant reduction in leukemic B cells. Grade 1 2 adverse events were seen in 91% of the patients; most common were dry mouth (78%), vertigo (70%), and somnolence (43%). After THC/CBD a significant reduction in leukemic B cells (median, 11%) occurred within two hours (p ¼ .014), and remained for 6 h without induction of apoptosis or proliferation. Normal B cells and T cells were also reduced. CXCR4 expression increased on leukemic cells and T cells. All effects were gone by 24 h. Our results show that a single dose of THC/CBD affects a wide variety of leukocytes and only transiently reduce malignant cells in blood. Based on this study, THC/CBD shows no therapeutic potential for indolent B cell lymphomas."
So, cannabinoids affected where the lymphocytes were, but did not kill them. This means that use of cannabinoids may confound blood counts somewhat, but not much more than the variation one might see across hourly blood counts throughout the day.
Based on this evidence, combined with previous posts, I think cannabinoids are still a drug looking for a reason to be used in cancer. The people marketing gummies don't have a strong motivation to fund research, because many, if not most gummy users will use them without actual proof of effectiveness.
First of all, I am not aware of any real research directly backing cannabis as a proven treatment for CLL or inducing apoptosis. My personal goal with any supplements herbs or foods is to delay progression of my 17p deleted CLL and try to buy more time until treatments or cures are available. So I am willing to try anything that won't hurt.
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor and I'm not recommending you take any of these. Do your research , talk to your doctor and use your judgment and knowledge. Obviously any of these could have interactions or risks that we aren't even aware of.
As far as the cannabinoids go: they seem definitely interesting and useful for various things, just not that interesting as directly relevant to CLL. There are tons of them like CBD, CBDV CBG, CBN, THCA, THCV, and the list goes on. And then there are all the terpenes in these just like in all kinds of other plants like basil, thyme, oregano etc.
Fern Valley Farms (just an example not promoting anyone) developed a bunch of unique interesting cannabinoids now legally sold as "kief" (powder) to put in foods or whatever, so I got some to try. I use their CBDV for appetite control, and their CBG for inflammation and pain because I can't take too much ibuprofen. They also have CBD but I haven't seen much information on that helping CLL in any specific way. Frankly if things like CBG and Holy Basil, Chamomile, and other herbal supplements including cannabis even THC help you be less stressed out, the stress reduction ALONE might help keep your CLL more in check. On the other hand, many older people are so nervous about it because of the Reagan Era that using it might make them stressed and paranoid. When I was a hospice nurse I saw a lot of cancer patients using medical cannabis for various reasons and I'm an advocate for whatever helps people , but from what I've seen the dosage should be ramped up from teeny tiny to gradually more until the desired effect is reached, and not overdone. There are cannabis growers (like fern valley farms as mentioned ) that went back to good old wild hemp plants without any THC, and bred the plant specifically to produce desired dominant production of specific molecules like CBD and CBG and even newer things like THCA (safe to eat, and it's not THC but it becomes that if it is heated or burned actually ) or delta-8 THC (for a much milder effect) which are totally legal to order online and check out. If you are sick you might find other benefits with this "plant of 1000 molecules" which are now available with or without THC the one that creates intoxicating effects. CBG I find quite soothing and not at all mentally noticeable. CBN helps some people sleep with good reports. Tiny doses of THC can really cut nausea and anxiety but overdoing it is to be avoided.
and It seems like there are indeed far more promising natural compounds in nature than CBD. These compounds actually seem to possibly do things to promote cell apoptosis specifically in CLL type cells, among other useful functions.
In General for CLL some of the most promising top 5 seem to be :
Green Tea (EGCGs ) , drinking bitter sencha types can give you enough, be careful with pure CGCG supplements as they can cause liver inflammation or even damage if overdosed.
Quercetin (from citrus peels- the white part you throw away)
Resveratrol from grapes and wine (along with vineotrol and other red wine components) as a potent multi-target apoptosis inducer
Hop Flower Extract (containing Xanthohumol) of interest to those with TP53 deletion 17p
Turmeric (Curcuminoids) promotes apoptosis AND makes some chemo drugs work better
Chamomile Extract (Apigenin) a powerful apoptosis inducer
Magnolia Bark extract (Honokiol)
N-Acetyl-cysteine (NAC)
Vitamin D3 & Vitamin K2
*I was looking for things that might actually make a difference in stalling progression of CLL with TP53 / 17p deletion in particular and found :
(Hop Flower Extract , containing Xanthohumol )
because it is a potent inhibitor of a protein called survivin which accumulates in these cells at high levels and blocks apoptosis, theoretically lowering survivin might make cells more susceptible to chemo drugs
Again, I'm not telling you to take these, you should consult your doctor , use caution and judgment, and realize that any of these could have side effects or interactions with anything else you take or even each other. I'm not a doctor and none of this should be taken as medical advice. Also, I doubt any of these are a "cure". I have a bad deletion 17p so I am just looking for anything that can be part of a lifestyle that makes me healthier and might delay progression or transformation so my risk profile or tolerance might be very different than yours.
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On the possible use of mushrooms and natural supplements, and their potential benefits, with citations
Apigenin study caused apoptosis in certain Leukemia Cells?
