Striking lung cancer response to self-administration of cannabidiol: A case report and literature review

Abstract

In spite of new drugs, lung cancer is associated with a very poor prognosis. While targeted therapies are improving outcomes, it is not uncommon for many patients to have only a partial response, and relapse during follow-up. Thus, new drugs or re-evaluation of existing therapies used to treat other non-malignant diseases (drug repurposing) are still needed. While this research both in vitro and in vivo is being carried out, it is important to be attentive to patients where the disease responds to treatments not considered standard in clinical practice. We report here a patient with adenocarcinoma of the lung who, after declining chemotherapy and radiotherapy, presented with tumour response following self-administration of cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound present in Cannabis sativa . Prior work has shown that cannabidiol may have anti-neoplastic properties and enhance the immune response to cancer. The data presented here indicate that cannabidiol might have led to a striking response in a patient with lung cancer.

Cannabidiol—from Plant to Human Body: A Promising Bioactive Molecule with Multi-Target Effects in Cancer

“…He started first with two drops twice daily for a week and then nine drops twice daily for a month. One month later, a significant reduction on the number and size of mediastinal lymph nodes was observed on CT scan [147].…”

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa’s pharmacological properties and health effects: A scoping review of current evidence

“…As for evidence in human use, one case report and one case series were published describing the potential effects of hemp-products containing CBD and other unidentified compounds in prolonging survival and promoting partial tumour response in brain and lung cancer [ 43 , 44 ].…”

“…In the 18 clinical trials included, adverse reactions reported for CBD, hemp products and MaZiRenWan are generally tolerable with no permanent disabling effects, though these may have contributed towards drop outs in some studies (up to 30%) [ 26 , 31 , 32 , 34 , 35 , 43 , 44 , 48 , 49 , 51 – 53 , 56 , 57 , 64 , 75 , 77 ].…”

“…Due to the versatility in hemp plant cultivation which can result in different ranges of phytochemical content, this lack of quantitative data on various potentially bioactive compounds is a significant confounding factor in a majority of the published papers. In addition, growing use of non-pharmaceutical grade hemp formulations in recent trials [ 35 , 44 , 57 , 73 , 77 ] without independent analysis of formulation content further adds to the complexity of data interpretation.…”

ACPA decreases non-small cell lung cancer line growth through Akt/PI3K and JNK pathways in vitro

“…The airway epithelium (bronchi and bronchioles) 14 , several immune system cells including lymphocytes, macrophages, and leukocytes 15,16 contain endocannabinoid system. Endogenous and exogenous cannabinoids decrease proliferation on adenocarcinoma [17][18][19][20][21] and squamous 20 carcinoma subtypes of lung cancer. CB1R and CB2R levels in NSCLC tissues are higher than that of healthy ones 20 , whereas CB1R gene expression in bronchi is higher compared to CB2 22 .…”